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| The Day of the Dead falls on the day right after Halloween Photo credit: Tom Hilton licensed CC BY 2.0 |
1. Ataúd
This is Spanish for casket. Since we’re celebrating death, you can understand the significance of this word in our context. Ataúd comes from Arabic and thus has no known cousins in English. That makes the word particularly difficult to associate with anything familiar. Not using etymology at least. But where etymology fails, a bit of imagination comes in handy. That’s what we’ll do with this bad boy. Some call it visualization, others call it word association. Yet others prefer fancier terms like bridging and linking. The essence is simple. Think of something that connects the foreign word with its English counterpart using your imagination.
Although not exactly, the word ataúd rings somewhat similar to a toad. Say the two aloud a few times and you’ll see a similarity too. Ataúd. A toad. Ataúd. A toad. See what I mean? Now, just imagine you had one of these slimy amphibians as a very dear pet. An unusual pet is always going to be harder to forget. Alas, he just kicked the bucket today and is now resting in his ataúd while you and your family mourns his loss. If toads and the likes don’t fascinate you much, try conjuring up a human friend and name him Todd. Just be sure to kill him which might be a tad tricky if you actually happen to know a Todd in real.
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| Calaca is Mexican colloquialism for the Grim Reaper himself Photo credit: Razi Marysol Machay licensed CC BY-SA 2.0 |
2. Calaca
In both Mexico and Honduras, calaca is a colloquial term for Death personified. In Mexico, it also refers to a skull, again, colloquially. And skulls are mighty important when it comes to events celebrating the Grim Reaper. So what if the word is mere colloquialism, it’s still worth learning in order for you to experience the most complete Day of the Dead immersion. With a history that goes back to the Aztec days, calacas are typically shown with a rich foliage of marigold and are depicted as fun figures rather than macabre. A most Mexican way to say someone died goes:
Se lo llevó la calaca.
The calaca took him away.
Since the word descends from the Aztecs, there’s nothing in English that could help you memorize it. So we’ll do what we do best – improvise. Picture Mr. Reaper as the dude with a skull for a head who’s also fun because he sports a colorful baseball cap. That’s not an image one can easily forget, is it? And the rainbow-colored cap will easily remind you of calaca because color (spoken with a British accent) and cap, when run together, do sound somewhat like calaca.
3. Calavera
Like calaca, calavera also represents a human skull although, the term more specifically applies to sugar candies or clay figures made in the form of such a skull, often by hand. Calaveras are as integral to the Day of the Dead as the dead themselves. In plural, the word can also be used as a proper noun – las Calaveras – to refer to the songs and poems written specifically for this day.
The word derives from Latin calvaria. If this sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you’re a good Christian who has read his Bible. You see, calvaria is what gives us the name of the hill outside of Jerusalem where crucifixions would be done back in the days of Christ. That’s where he was crucified too, along with two others. The hill is named Calvary. It shouldn’t be hard to imagine a crucifixion site as littered with human skulls, i.e. calaveras. And this will ensure you don’t forget the word in question ever.
4. Careta
Careta means mask just like another Spanish word máscara does. Máscara is the more generic term and way easier to remember too. However, careta is what gets the spotlight on this day which makes it worth learning. Caretas are specifically the masks you’d wear at the end of the celebrations in order to keep the evil spirits away. I have no idea what those ghouls find so spooky about these fun masks, but they sure do. And if it works, who cares!
Careta is a derivative of cara, Spanish for face. It should be now easy to see careta as what hides your cara. So, all you need to remember is cara and careta will follow. As for cara, it comes from Latin so etymology would seem like a good place to start. However, I have a better idea. Do you want to look good for the party? Pretty, maybe? Then you must take care of your cara. Who doesn’t? Now, as long as you care for your cara, i.e. face, you’ll remember the word.
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| The idea of catrinas is hardly a century old Photo credit: Randal Sheppard licensed CC BY-SA 2.0 |
5. Catrina
What’s a Day of the Dead parade without its iconic catrinas? These are elegantly dressed skeletons representing Death as a rich aristocratic lady. Leave it to the Mexicans to turn spooky human skeletons into rich and pretty women with a sexy name. That’s probably the most Metal thing you’d have read today. The concept, unlike most others revolving around this day, is strangely a recent one. The term was first used in the early 1900s when some death-obsessed Mexican dude named José Guadalupe Posada created a zinc etching of a rich woman’s skeleton and named it La Calavera Catrina, meaning Elegant Skull.
Memorizing catrina is a cakewalk because it’s a pretty girl, or at least is meant to be. Just picture a rich dead woman named Catrina or Catherine wearing a super snobbish hat, like the ones worn by the Queen of England. To further drill it home, let’s say she died in New Orleans when Katrina visited America. So, a girl called Catrina dies during hurricane Katrina and turns into a catrina. Tell me how difficult that was.
6. Cempasúchil
What the hell is that? That doesn’t even sound Spanish! How do you pronounce this weird mashup of letters that don’t even seem to belong together? Well, the word is a remnant of Nahuatl which was absorbed by the Spanish of Latin America over hundreds of years of contact. Nahuatl is one of the languages spoken by the indigenous peoples of Mexico. Why are we discussing it if it’s not Spanish? Because it’s the single most important item that defines the festival in question. In English, we call it marigold. In Spain, people call it maravilla. Maravilla is easy to remember if you find this flower marvelous. But the Mexican way is to use this Indian tongue-twister.
Cempasúchil (pronounced sem-pa-soo-chill) has no relatives in English because it comes from Nahuatl, a language having nothing in common with English. So let’s get creative. Cempa- kind of rhymes with simple and -súchil does with such chill. String the two together and think of those Mexicans as simple, yet such chilled-out folks at a graveyard covered in these flowers placed there as offerings to the dead. Now, every time you think of marigolds in the context of the Day of the Dead, you’ll recall those easygoing Mexicans – simple and such chilled-out people – which will lead you to cempasúchil.
There are many other words that complete your Day of the Dead experience, including but not limited to copal (incense), tambor (drum), tumba (grave or tomb), ofrendas (offerings), and candelero (candlestick). There’s also some signature food items worth knowing, particularly mole, dulces, and gollettes. But the 6 words discussed above are by far the most important ones to remember. Think of any fun way of remembering the others? Do share with the rest of us as we’re always eager to minimize efforts when it comes to memorizing foreign words!
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