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CLASSIC: How James Bond Created a Mexican Dia de los Muertos Tradition · Ridiculous History

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ridiculous Historians. Welcome back to our classic episode. For this week,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: we often talk about espionage. We love it, you love
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: it too. That's Max Williams. That's Noel Brown. I'm Ben Bolin.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Hello.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: We get James Bond joining us in tonight's conversation.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Bond, James Bond, Yes, Yeah, doubles seven.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the guy who is such a crap spy that
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: he announces his real name in every situation.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Ah, Ben, I disagree. I think it just indicates his
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: extreme levels of confidence in his ability to get the
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: job done. Brown, Noel Brown, it's sexy man. Now Martini,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: what is it? Have you ever had a Vesper Martini?
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: It's illegal for you to ask me this. That's fair well, okay, folks,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: if you ever want to try the martini of choice
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: for mister James Brown, it is the Vesper and it
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: is quite a light and refreshing cocktail if you're into it,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: not the heavy olivin of a traditional Martine. It's a
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: little bit more on the citrusy side. But we're talking
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: about the Daniel Craig James Bond, right, not the Sean Connery,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: not the Roger Moore or you know the other ones.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: But I think Daniel Craig was an excellent James Bond.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: And it turns out that our fictional character in the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Daniel Craig film adaptation may have indeed played a role
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: in creating a tradition that continues to this day. Dia
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: de las Mertos and Parker, Let's roll it Ridiculous History
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. Let's paint a scene for
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: you to begin this episode.
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  Speaker 2: Shall we use a broad brush, let us.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Use a broad brush, let us use several brushes. We're
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: gonna need a lot of black and white paint for
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: this one.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I think I see where you're going with this.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: So the world renowned secret agent Double O seven himself,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: James Bond, gets a message that leads him on an
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  Speaker 1: unauthorized mission into Mexico City on the Day of the Dead.
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  Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Bad Brown, Noeld Brown. It's not bad. I
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: don't know, No I can that good. I liked I
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: like that. I like the Connery, the Connery Bond voice,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: James spawn tream spawnup. I don't even know. Yeah, I
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: am Noel Brown. In fact, right, you may have thought
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: that someone else was here that sounded different not true.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: You know who else is here though, Noel Brown, Oh
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: boy do I our super producer, Casey Pegram And most importantly,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: we're so glad that you are here because in today's
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: episode we learned something very very strange. Noel, could could
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: you help me describe this opening scene from the film Specter?
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Should we say spoilers?
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  Speaker 2: I don't know, it's not really is it is like
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: the opening sequence, Yeah, it's the opening sequence. Yeah. I
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: don't remember that movie particularly well, though I do remember
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: this scene. He basically Bond is on a high speed
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: foot chase, kind of not really high speed, you know,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: running speed. It's not like a yeah he's in pursuit.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: He's in pursuit, hot pursuit. There we go of some
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  Speaker 2: sort of battie again, don't don't really remember the deaths
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: of the plot, but he ends up bobbing and weaving
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  Speaker 2: through this massive Dia Dellas Muertos parade festival, surrounded by
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  Speaker 2: giant floats adorned with skeletons with like puppet type rods
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  Speaker 2: attest to the hands. So they're going and then you know,
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  Speaker 2: sugar skulls, and yeah, one of the skeletons has like
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  Speaker 2: a big cigar in his mouth and a top hat
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  Speaker 2: and it's you know, very festive. N streets are.
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  Speaker 1: Packed Mardi Gras level and their Bond is trying to
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: stop a terrorist bombing. Oh god, so he's trying to
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: find the needle in the haystack here right right now.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: It's coming back to me. And because this.
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  Speaker 1: Is the beginning of the movie, I don't think it's
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  Speaker 1: going to ruin it for any of us out there
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  Speaker 1: when we say he survives.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, it's not.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: It's not setting the record for the shortest Bond movie.
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  Speaker 2: It's weird. This is He's sort of a a doctor
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Who type situation that whenever there's a new James Bond,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: is it like just like a cold reboot? Are we
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  Speaker 2: supposed to believe that this is the only James Bond and.
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  Speaker 1: No one acknowledges that the Bond has changed.
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  Speaker 2: It's just like when they recast a character in a
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  Speaker 2: sitcom and it throws me off, Like the character in
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  Speaker 2: Family Matters when they switched out.
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  Speaker 1: Which one, Kimmy it was the Judy Winslow.
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  Speaker 2: I think, oh that's right, Okay, yeah, sorry, I always
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  Speaker 2: confuse Family Matters in Full House. In my mind, they
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  Speaker 2: had very similar themes, but you know, are like in
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  Speaker 2: Rosanna or whatever. We digress, however, because James Bond, he did
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  Speaker 2: you know, he diffuses the terrorist bomb. But here's the thing,
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  Speaker 2: this parade that he was a part of in the
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  Speaker 2: streets of Mexico City, not not a thing does not exist, man, manufactured.
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  Speaker 1: Did not exist. And I just want to show you, nol.
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  Speaker 1: I think you'll enjoy this. This is the suit that
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  Speaker 1: James Bond is wearing. Yeah, he's got he's got a
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  Speaker 1: top hat. He's got a cheeky little vest on with
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  Speaker 1: a with a rib motif.
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  Speaker 2: And it looks like he's wearing like sort of a
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  Speaker 2: black and white striped shirt underneath it, but it's kind
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  Speaker 2: of peeking through just so that it looks like a center,
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  Speaker 2: like a spine, Yeah, like a vertebrae. He is very
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  Speaker 2: dappered up, and he's of course got a skeleton mask on.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the thing, though a little culturally appropriative perhaps, Oh yeah,
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  Speaker 2: what do you think? What do you think? Man?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, So how about this, Let's step back
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  Speaker 1: a little and look at what the Day of the
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  Speaker 1: Dead actually is.
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  Speaker 2: What do you say? Let's do? All right?
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  Speaker 1: So the Day of the Dead in a sentence, is
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  Speaker 1: a holiday that's celebrated throughout Mexico, the Mexican diaspora, including
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  Speaker 1: Central and South regions of Mexico.
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  Speaker 2: And Latin America in general. I believe they do it,
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  Speaker 2: and yeah, and in Brazil, and.
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  Speaker 1: It's also celebrated in the United States and many other cultures.
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  Speaker 2: It's not college, it's.
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  Speaker 1: Not one of those hearing gone holidays. It actually lasts
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  Speaker 1: for multiple days.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. So that span of time is October thirty first
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  Speaker 2: is All Hallows Eve or Halloween. Then on November first,
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  Speaker 2: you have Doo Dellas Inacentis or All Saints Day. I've
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  Speaker 2: also heard it referred to as the Day of the Children.
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  Speaker 2: And then you've got the kicker on November two, with
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  Speaker 2: the Day of the Dead or All Souls Day or
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  Speaker 2: Doo Dellas Muertos.
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  Speaker 1: And this is a very community based, family driven kind
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  Speaker 1: of celebration.
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  Speaker 2: Traditionally all about family.
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  Speaker 1: Right right, You build private altars called ofrendas. You're honoring
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  Speaker 1: your loved ones who have passed on.
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  Speaker 2: Not worshiping, mind you, honoring honoring.
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  Speaker 1: Very very important difference. And you some of this honoring
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  Speaker 1: includes leaving their preparing their favorite foods or bringing them
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  Speaker 1: their favorite beverages. Visiting grays with these as gifts, you
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  Speaker 1: will also leave possessions of the ones.
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  Speaker 2: Who have passed. Did you say photographs, No, we didn't
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: say photographs. That is very very important, right, because in fact,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if you've seen the movie Coco, the
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  Speaker 2: Pixar movie, it's it's a wonderful, wonderful movie. It surrounds
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  Speaker 2: that this whole Day of the Dead tradition, and the
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  Speaker 2: device they use in the in the movie is that
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  Speaker 2: as soon as people stop remembering you in the afterlife,
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  Speaker 2: you disappear, you cease to you cease to exist. And
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  Speaker 2: on the Day of the Dead in the movie, all
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  Speaker 2: of these loved ones get to come back and visit
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  Speaker 2: with their family members. They don't they can't speak to
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  Speaker 2: each other, but they're there and they you know, the
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  Speaker 2: family members know they're there, and it's personified beautifully in
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  Speaker 2: this film. But the way they get their ticket across
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: the Bridge of Souls or whatever it's called, which is
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  Speaker 2: they're guided by Mary gold pedals. That's another tradition, right,
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  Speaker 2: And this all lines up with the truth because in
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  Speaker 2: Latin America they they go to graveyards at night and
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  Speaker 2: do this. But it's not a bookie affair because many
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  Speaker 2: of these graveyards are not owned by private companies like
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  Speaker 2: they are here in the States, but they're owned by
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  Speaker 2: the community. So the community has to keep them up.
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  Speaker 2: So every year they'll pull weeds, they'll beautify the area
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  Speaker 2: around the graves, and you know, do all the things
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  Speaker 2: we talked about. Put these little trinkets and pictures. But
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  Speaker 2: pictures are important in the movie, at least in Coco,
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  Speaker 2: because that's what gives them their ticket. And if you
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  Speaker 2: don't put the picture up, you can't come back and visit.
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  Speaker 1: So this is this is amazing. I think that's beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: And when I've encountered this sort of cultural relationship with death,
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  Speaker 1: it seems I'm gonna go out on a limb here.
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  Speaker 1: This is just one guy's opinion. It just seems like
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  Speaker 1: a more healthy way to approach mortality.
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  Speaker 2: Very grounding, as opposed to it being something to fear
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  Speaker 2: and to mourn. And there's certainly an element of mourning,
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  Speaker 2: but it doesn't fear.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, there's there's more of a it's I miss you,
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  Speaker 1: but it's more about I love right right, honoring, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and it's also a very old practice, or at least
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  Speaker 1: the predecessors, right, This dates back twenty five hundred three
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  Speaker 1: thousand years into pre Columbian cultures. When we say dates back,
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  Speaker 1: we mean that there was some sort of celebration commemorating
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  Speaker 1: the deaths of ancestors and the festival that forms the
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  Speaker 1: basis of the modern Day of the Dead. It occurred
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  Speaker 1: around the beginning of August and it lasted for a month.
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  Speaker 2: This was in the Aztec and tull Tech cultures and
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  Speaker 2: the Nahua people, and this is all these are considered
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  Speaker 2: pre Hispanic cultures. There's a really cool article on the
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  Speaker 2: travel section of National Geographic called top ten things you
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  Speaker 2: should know about the Day of the Dead. And one
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  Speaker 2: of the things I learned on here is that the
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  Speaker 2: Day of the Dead has UNESCO Cultural Heritage designation. And
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  Speaker 2: I did not know that events or holidays could get
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: this designation, but it turns out that they can, and
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  Speaker 2: it's recognized as having an intangible cultural heritage of humanity, which.
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  Speaker 1: Makes perfect sense when you think about it, because this
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  Speaker 1: is another example of a practice that we've talked about
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  Speaker 1: on a couple of other shows or episodes of other
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  Speaker 1: shows called religious syncretism and religious syncretism is the idea
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  Speaker 1: that differing spiritual beliefs can be incorporated into the same
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  Speaker 1: unified belief system or someone.
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  Speaker 2: That's why you'll.
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  Speaker 1: See places that had a lot of Catholic influence in
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  Speaker 1: the past retain original spiritual practices, but then have the
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  Speaker 1: names of saints incorporated into the pantheon or something. So
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  Speaker 1: now when we look at this celebration in the modern
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: days before itself, at least, we see a very Catholic
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  Speaker 1: celebration and Catholic tinged. That's right, But originally we're talking
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  Speaker 1: about this meso American experience. The Aztecs, for instance, believed
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: there were multiple planes of existence that were separate but interrelated,
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  Speaker 1: sort of what Coco is building off of, and they
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  Speaker 1: envisioned a world that had thirteen overworlds layers of heaven
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  Speaker 1: ooh heady, and then nine underworlds in each level had
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  Speaker 1: their own different characteristics and particular gods who ruled them.
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  Speaker 2: That's interesting too, because that sort of seems in line
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  Speaker 2: with like Dante's Inferno and like the circles of Hell,
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  Speaker 2: you know, like having different layers of the underworld. Which
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  Speaker 2: is funny too, when when the underworld is referred to
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  Speaker 2: less as a place of damnation and suffering and more
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  Speaker 2: of just that is the afterlife, the underworld.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the festival. The original month long festival paid
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  Speaker 1: tribute to the Lord and Lady of the Underworld along
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  Speaker 1: with their ancestors Mikdlan Tekuliti which I am probably butchering
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  Speaker 1: and his wife Milan Quihatl, and they lived in Michlan,
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  Speaker 1: the land of the Dead.
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  Speaker 2: It's cool. It's very different from Catholicism, it really is.
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  Speaker 2: And I think it's so cool the way you can
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  Speaker 2: see the evolution of this this holiday and this tradition
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  Speaker 2: up to the current day. So let's talk about some
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  Speaker 2: of the features of this tradition.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I'm so glad you said that. Okay, no, no,
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  Speaker 1: your first, you first.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there's some really cool stuff. One thing we talked
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  Speaker 2: about the the a friend as the altars that are
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: meant to remember and honor are lost family members. They
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: have these things called literary calaveras, which in calavera actually
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: means skull, but in the eighteenth the nineteenth centuries that
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: term was used to describe I kind of a little poem,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: like a little limericky kind of thing sort of akin
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: to an epitaph, but sort of tongue in cheek. So
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  Speaker 2: here's an example of one. The idea of the calvera
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  Speaker 2: kind of dates back to this idea of the dance
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  Speaker 2: macabre in French or the danza macabren Spanish and Italian,
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  Speaker 2: which is a type of play that was performed in
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  Speaker 2: the fourteenth century where you dance with death, and it's
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  Speaker 2: sort of this idea of making peace with your relationship
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  Speaker 2: with death, very similar, and from that in Mexico it
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  Speaker 2: was developed into these kind of fun, little poignant, little
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  Speaker 2: tongue in cheek poems that are meant to sort of
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  Speaker 2: poke fun at a cultural figures often. So here's one
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  Speaker 2: called the Bullfighter. Here lies a good bullfighter who died
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  Speaker 2: of grief from being a bad bandeleero. And the Bandalero
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  Speaker 2: is the one that sticks the flags into the bowl
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  Speaker 2: with the list of the pointy sword things right bood
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  Speaker 2: at each performance. He has died of a tumble received
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  Speaker 2: on the rear, and such was his foolishness that he
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  Speaker 2: was already in the tomb turned into skull and bones
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  Speaker 2: and fighting the dead.
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  Speaker 1: So there's not a nihilism. There's an acceptance. Here there's
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  Speaker 1: a well it's happening anyway kind of recognition of life's passages.
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  Speaker 1: It's it's cool too from a thanatological perspective, thanatology being
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: the study of death, to see how culture wide this
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  Speaker 1: sort of removes to a great degree the stigma associated
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  Speaker 1: with mortality. Also, I know we both want to examine
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: this part. The food. Oh yeah, there's there's traditional food
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  Speaker 1: that's often cooked, hears saying the same way that marigolds
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  Speaker 1: are the primary pedals used to decorate your grave. The
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  Speaker 1: bread of the dead or pandemuerro, is a sweet bread
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  Speaker 1: that has aniseeds and it's rated with bones and skulls
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  Speaker 1: made out of dough. They might be arranged in a circle.
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  Speaker 1: There are tiny dough teardrops that symbolize sorrow, and they're
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: also sugar skulls.
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  Speaker 2: And some of them have like caramel on them or
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: powdered sugar or different like orange zest I think is
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: one of the ingredients. They kind of look like cala
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: bread from the Jewish tradition, really really beautiful and they've
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: got that really nice shiny egg washed kind of quality,
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  Speaker 2: so that that is a very popular dish. And then
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: of course they're you know, there are traditional Latin American
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  Speaker 2: dishes that are often reserved for special occasions that are
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: busted out on Dia delis Martos, things like flawn, caramel flawn,
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: or soapapillas or something called Calabaza antasha, which is a
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: candied pumpkin dessert enchiladas and is the delicious, oh my gosh,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: tinga poblana del poyo. This is like a Mexican stew.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: A lot of these things. If you ever find yourself
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: in the Atlanta area, PA, you gotta go to Plaza
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Fiesta and I'll tell you, I can't quite remember the
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: name of the place, but it's it's in one of
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: the back little coves. It's not in the main food court,
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: and it's called something like Tropical Island Delight or something
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: like that makes no sense and doesn't seem to have
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: anything to do with it. And you know, it's kind
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: of like the Spot because it's always crowded, but not overcrowded,
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: because you know that like it's kind of like a
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: hidden jewel, and that's what I like about it. But
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: amazing Tomali's and all of this stuff red chili and
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: pork tomales pizzole, which is like a chicken soup with
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: homini in it. So good, so good.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: There are also traditional beverages.
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  Speaker 2: This is no we said that.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: This parade didn't exist when it was depicted Inspector. But
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: that's not to say that Day of the Dead is
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: not a social holiday. People do go out in the streets,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: they greet each other. They you will see people who
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: might be wearing a skeleton costume.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and you know, one of the officials in the
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Tourism department of Mexico City was quick to say that
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: this is a festival. This is not a replacement for
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: the very personal traditions of Day of the Dead. This
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: is also not to say that Day of the Dead
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: wasn't happening in Mexico City. That's not true at all.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: It's just much more of a thing you do at
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: home with your families, or a thing you do where
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: you go visit the gravesites, as opposed to some sort
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: of Marty Gras esque parade, which is what was depicted
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: in the film and what has since been recreated in
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Mexico City. That's right.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: In an article for The Guardian, journalist David Agrin discusses
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: this phenomenon. You can find it with the headline Mexico
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: City's James Bond inspired Day of the Dead parade gets
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: mixed reviews. Swamp wamp wah, Yes, well done, good time
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: you're on the sound cue. Because after Specter, a lot
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: of people who watched this film around the world just
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: assumed that this parade happened.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: And I think that's where I kind of have a
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: bone to pick with this cultural appropriation and like turning
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: a beautiful tradition, a cultural tradition, into a set piece
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: for a footchase, and it's a serious tradition. Yes, that's
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: the thing, And what we're seeing in this article is
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: that is what I was saying a minute ago. It's
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: not to say that Mexico City was not celebrating Day
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: of the Dead, but it was much more personal, a
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: very deeply spiritual tradition in Mexico, and they decided to
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: turn it into a festival. And Enrique de la Madrid,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: who's the secretary of Tourism for Mexico, he kind of
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: defends it when he says this. He says, Day of
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: the Dead is always something in Mexico City that is celebrated,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: though in a more serious way. What we decided to
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: do here is a festival. So yeah, it seems like
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: there's a little bit of lip service being paid there.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know, they're trying to get those tourist bucks.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Well we yeah, we should also point out, just to
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: highlight this, it is not as if some sort of
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: outside group came in and said, we're going to produce
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: a festival every year. It is is the city of
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Mexico City itself, their actual government, and thousands of people
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: came to this parade. Of people participated in it. The
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: many people said, you know what, this is fine. I
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: enjoy this and I can still do the traditional serious stuff.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: But people on social media saw this as a symptom
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: of an ongoing larger problem with the government of Mexico City.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: That's right. Esteban Ilades tweeted, this is a cheap stunt.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: He's the editor of a magazine called Nexos. They filmed
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: James Bond here and now we have the traditional Day
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: of the Dead parade. Yeah, let's see what happens when
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: the mayor finishes reading the Da Vinci code. Oooh that
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: was a SICKI burn some alo for that one.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Casey can we get a sizzle sound cute. This also
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: was seen as just another scheme by the same people
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: who opened the world's biggest ice rink, built urban beaches
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: and this this is again is the journalist the journalist
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: quotation here, but I love it and having a fetish
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: for setting world records, such as taking the biggest ever selfie.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: The biggest like largest in size or.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I guess the biggest the largest amount of people. It's
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: not like Mexico City as an army can hold. It's
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: not really a selfie if it's a group though, isn't
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: that's true? Is it the tallest man in the world,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: take it as selfie the giantest head. Yeah, let us know,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: yeah and yeah right to the you know, put us
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: in touch with the folks at Guinness.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Tell me we did an episode on them. Have you heard
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: the deal? How Guinness is now more in the business
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: of like they will come to you and do an
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: event where you can attempt to break a record. Like
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: It's become much more of a destination, like like a
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: wedding or like a party they throw and there's different
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: packages so it's a lot easier to get the record
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: if you have boukou bucks to throw at Guinness and
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: have them come do this event. It's really interesting that
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: might be an episode unto itself. Yeah.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, everything's been commodified increasingly. At least that's what the
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: opponents of the Day of the Dead parade would say.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: And we also want to know where you fall on this,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: on which side of this debate you fall and do
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: you feel like this is a soulless rush to monetize
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: something or do you think that this is another step
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: in the evolution of Day of the Dead. I mean,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: we barely touched upon the Spanish influences.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: I know, touch on some for me, all right, As.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: You can find in an MPR article Decoding the Food
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: and Drink on a Day of the Dead Altar by
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Karen Castillo Farfan, the Spanish conquest put Catholic leaders in
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: a what we've said before on the show is very
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: terrible mindset. The idea that they would assimilate these people
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: and by leading them to what they saw as the
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: truth of Catholicism, any means they took justified that noble end.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: So they exerted their influence on everything. It was very
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: ideologically based, and one of those was their influence on
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the tradition that was meant to honor the dead. So
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: they ended up they ended up saying this would this
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: would overlap with pre existing Catholic holidays, and that's why
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: you see this all Soul's Day stuff going.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: On, That's right, That's why they line it up with
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: those calendar days, right, Yeah, And that affects it.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: But also, you know, this is a region that, despite
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: having these meso American pre Columbian practices, is still largely
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: very Catholic in terms of demographics. Sure, these are not
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: seen as contradictories.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: So the evolution was par for the core because this
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: started off as a pre Hispanic tradition and then you're
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: talking about that influence on these indigenous people of the
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: region by the Spanish. They kind of had to co
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: opt this tradition and sort of give it a little twists, right, yeah.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: So is this parade another step in that ongoing evolution,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: and if so, is it a step in a good direction,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: a bad direction, or neutral direction. One thing we can
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: say for sure, however, is that this is not the
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: only case in which a fictional event has prompted a
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: real world change.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Oh hit me with one.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I would love to, and we also think and hope
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: that you would love to hear one two folks, but
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: unfortunately the ones we found are so good they will
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: have to be their own episodes. One in particular, you
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: know the one I'm thinking about.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: You're talking about the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle crime bustin story.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Yes, we are, that's true. The creator of Sherlock Holmes,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: it turns out, wasn't just talking the talk I want
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: to say, writing the words. Yeah, he's also doing the dirt.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: He was doing the dirds.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: There we go, We got there. We hope that you
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: enjoyed this exploration of the relationship that fiction can have
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: with the real world. And we'd like to hear your
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: examples of other bits about this.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: And not only that. Have you been to a Doo
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Delas Martos event, one of the kind of more you know,
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: they're maybe losing the spiritual a little bit. We've beene
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: of these street festivals or is this a tradition in
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: your family? I would love to hear some inside information
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: on that. Please. You can write to us at Ridiculous
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: at HowStuffWorks dot com. You can hit us up on
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: the social meds at the Facebook where we are Ridiculous History.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Give a look at our Facebook group, the Ridiculous Historians.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: We are really looking forward to mining it for some
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: future episode ideas.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Yes, and we also we also just found this soundbites
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: noise maker in the studio, so we should probably get
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: out of here.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: And do you want to hear a sound effect? Sure? Man, Okay,
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: let's go joos wisely. Okay, there's we'll go safe, We'll
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: go applause. Okay.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: So we'd like to thank Casey Pegram, our super producer,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Casey sincerely, thank you, of course, thanks to Alex Williams,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Christopher Hasiotis, Noel Brown, ladies and gentlemen.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Ben As I live and breathe thanks to you. And
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: we're sitting here the whole time.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I know it was me the whole time. I know,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: like at the very end of the sixth sense when
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: everyone goes.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: Hey, Willis whoa I know, come on now, no spoilers, No,
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: that was good. I stole that joke from Always Sunny
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: in Philadelphia. That's true. That was Bruce Willis Phillot time.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: It's true. And we hope you continue being you the
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: whole time because we really like you. We really like
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: hanging out with you and stay tuned. Next week, we're
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: gonna be talking about a.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Thing, right, specifically, how the capture of Guam was bloodless
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: and quick entirely due to a misunderstanding.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: That sounds like a pretty sweet misunderstanding. I can't wait
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: to hear all about it, or you know, tell you
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: all about it. It's a fifty to fifty thing. Yeah,
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: we have a back and forth, all right. For more
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.