From evangelization to syncretism: the Days of the Souls in New Spain (predecessor of the modern Day of the Dead)

With the arrival of Christianity in the Americas, the ancient Mesoamerican ceremonies dedicated to the dead encountered a new religious calendar. In medieval Europe, the Church had already defined specific dates to honor the saints and the souls in the afterlife, but these commemorations arose centuries earlier, in the heart of Rome.

During the 8th century, Pope Gregory III (731-741) decided to institute a special feast in honor of all the saints and martyrs, given the impossibility of commemorating each one on a different date. The celebration was set for November 1, when a chapel was consecrated in St. Peter’s Basilica dedicated “to all the saints”. The aim was to unify the cult of the Christian martyrs and to strengthen devotion in an era marked by wars, plagues and massive conversions to Christianity in Europe.

A century later, Pope Gregory IV (827-844) officially extended this feast to all of Christianity. Shortly thereafter, November 2 was added as the Day of the Faithful Departed, to pray not only for the already glorified saints, but also for the souls who were still purging their sins before reaching heaven. Thus, the Catholic calendar was divided between the celebration of the saints and the intercession for the common dead, creating a spiritual framework that united hope in eternal life with compassion for those who had departed.

When the missionaries brought these festivities to New Spain, they sought to replace the ancient indigenous cults of the deceased with them. However, instead of disappearing, these beliefs were transformed. The result was a new, profoundly mestizo tradition: the Days of the Dead, where indigenous memory and Catholic devotion coexisted on the same altar.

Evangelization and the feasts of the Catholic calendar

During the first years of the viceroyalty, the religious orders – Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians – promoted a vast evangelization process. In this effort, the friars taught the Catholic liturgical calendar, in which November was dedicated to remembering the saints and the souls in purgatory.

The intention was to Christianize the old indigenous ceremonies of the dead, integrating them to the new dates: November 1 for children and November 2 for adults, a division that curiously coincided with the Mexica festivities of Miccailhuitontli (the small dead) and Huey Miccailhuitl (the great dead).
In this way, the European ritual cycle was intertwined with the indigenous cosmovision, creating a symbolic bridge between the Christian sky and the Mesoamerican Mictlan.

Indigenous adaptation and symbolic continuity

Despite efforts to eradicate ancient funeral rites, indigenous communities reinterpreted Christian teachings from their own worldview. From the early years of the viceroyalty, ecclesiastical authorities issued ordinances against “idolaters” and organized campaigns to extirpate idolatry, especially during the 16th and 17th centuries. These actions – documented by chroniclers such as Fray Toribio de Benavente “Motolinía” and Fray Juan de Torquemada – consisted of inspections of temples and houses to destroy idols, tombs and objects of pre-Hispanic worship, considered “diabolical superstitions”.
However, popular faith was stronger than the prohibition. The communities, far from abandoning their beliefs, adapted them to the new Christian framework.

In November celebrations, masses, processions and prayers were mixed with offerings of food, flowers and copal, elements that evoked the ancient tributes to ancestors. Families went to the cemeteries to accompany the souls with food and music, and in many rural regions they placed mats, candles, flowers and bread figures in the atrium of the churches, in continuity with Mesoamerican rites.
According to studies by INAH and historian Johanna Broda, these practices show the survival of the cult of the indigenous dead within a Catholic context, reinterpreted as a prayer for the souls in purgatory.

The friars -mainly Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians- adopted a more pedagogical than repressive posture. They understood that prohibiting all indigenous elements would make conversion impossible, so they tolerated offerings and floral decorations, as long as they were addressed to saints or virgins. This tolerance allowed the emergence of a religious syncretism: the souls of the Christian purgatory merged with the spirits of the Mesoamerican Mictlan.

Domestic altars with images of saints and virgins began to appear in New Spain’s homes, a practice of European origin that the indigenous people transformed by incorporating their own elements. In the Iberian Peninsula, altars were centered on devotion to Christ or the Virgin, adorned with candles, rosaries and relics. On the other hand, in the indigenous houses of New Spain, corn, fruits, flowers, copal and water were added, symbols of fertility and spiritual transit. Thus, the Novo-Hispanic altars united the European Catholic format with the Mesoamerican symbolic content.

Another distinctive element was the introduction of skulls and skulls as symbolic ornaments, whose remote roots are linked to the Arab influence in the Iberian Peninsula. During centuries of Muslim presence in Spain, the Arabs spread the use of sugar and the custom of elaborating sweet figures in human or animal form, used in religious celebrations as a reminder of the transience of life. These traditions, inherited from Spanish convent pastries, were brought to New Spain by the missionaries. When they encountered indigenous representations of death – such as Mictlantecuhtli, tzompantli and stone skulls – a new mestizo aesthetic emerged: sugar skulls, a symbol of the dialogue between two visions of the afterlife that would eventually inspire the popular catrinas of modern Mexico.

In this complex cultural framework, indigenous communities preserved the essence of their ancient relationship with the dead, but under new names and meanings. Thus arose the novo-Hispanic religious syncretism, where the soul of the Christian deceased and the ancestral indigenous spirit coexisted in the same celebration, expressed both in churches and in homes.

The birth of syncretism: from Mictlán to purgatory

The Church taught that souls passed through purgatory before reaching heaven. The Indians, on the other hand, believed in a spiritual journey through different levels until reaching Mictlán.
Both visions shared the idea of a post-death transit, so they merged naturally. Prayers for the souls became a Christianized form of the ancient funeral tributes.

In convents and parishes, the friars organized “novenas de ánimas”, masses and religious representations, while in indigenous homes the custom of preparing family offerings was kept alive. This dialogue between European faith and Mesoamerican spirituality gave rise to a unique tradition: the Days of the Dead, direct predecessors of today’s Day of the Dead.

Conclusion

The Days of the Dead in New Spain were the meeting point between two worlds: European Catholicism and Mesoamerican beliefs about death.
From the devotion to purgatory and the veneration of saints was born a hybrid celebration that kept alive the memory of ancestors.
Centuries later, when the Mexican State reinterpreted it as a symbol of identity, this spiritual fusion was consolidated into what we know today as Day of the Dead: a tradition that continues to unite the sacred and the human, the ancient and the modern.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Days of the Dead in New Spain

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