Tomicca: Our Departed on the Day of the Dead
Without getting into just how much Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead in Mexico is Indigenous or syncretic, I wanted to share some basic (mostly linguistic) information about similarly-named holidays among the Mexica (“Aztecs”) and other Nahuas before the Spanish invasion.
There are multiple possible destinations for a soul in Nahua belief, but the most common is Mictlān, “Land of the Dead.” Souls that travel into that realm (across a mighty river, aided by a dog) are known as “mictēcah,” literally “inhabitants of Mictlān.” They must spend four years crossing nine “deserts” full of obstacles, gods, and monsters.
The point of these obstacles is to “flense the flesh,” i.e., to free the soul of earthly attachments so that it can reach the center / lowest level of Mictlān and pass beyond, to Quēnamihcān, the “Unknowable Realm” … perhaps Tamoanchan, paradise, or union with the divine source.
That’s why, metaphorically, only one’s bones are left behind in Mictlān. Now, two rulers of that Underworld decide whether one has been fully freed from worldly entanglements: Mictlāntēuctli (literally “Dead Land Lord”) and Mictēcacihuātl (“Dead People Lady,” or “Queen of the Dead”).
As she was in charge of the “mictēcah” (the souls traveling through the Land of the Dead), Nahua families dedicated four days…
