There is an increasing popularity for celebrating Día de los Muertos - Day of the Dead in the United States of America. Día de los Muertos is a cultural and religious holiday that is most commonly associated with Mexican descendants and has been designated as a time to remember, honor, and visit with deceased loved ones. This paper explores the celebrations of Día de los Muertos in a Michigan city using conceptual tools of culture, migration, and identity. The intent is to comprehend why and how Mexican migrants to the Michigan area use this traditional activity to construct their social identity within the United States of America. The guiding research questions were: 1) How do Mexican migrants in mid-Michigan celebrate Día de los Muertos; and 2) What is the role of the celebration in developing a sense of Mexican ethnic identity for these migrants? To address these questions, I conducted an exploratory qualitative research project that employed interview and observational data collected through participant observation and in-person interview. The research found that the majority of respondents who celebrate use Día de los Muertos as a way to remember deceased loved ones but more significantly, as part of their construction of new Mexican-centered identities and self within an Anglo-American social context that pressures them to adopt the new U.S. way of life.
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