Day of the Dead

This article is about the Mexican holiday. For other uses, see Day of the Dead (disambiguation).

“Dia de los Muertos” redirects here. For the band, see Dia de los Muertos (band).

The Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de (los) Muertos)^[2][3] is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality.^[4][5][6] The multi-day holiday involves family and friends gathering to pay respects and remember friends and family members who have died. These celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember amusing events and anecdotes about the departed.^[7] It is widely observed in Mexico, where it largely developed, and is also observed in other places, especially by people of Mexican heritage. The observance falls during the Christian period of Allhallowtide.^[1] Some argue that there are Indigenous Mexican or ancient Aztec influences that account for the custom, though others see it as a local expression of the Allhallowtide season that was brought to the region by the Spanish; the Day of the Dead has become a way to remember those forebears of Mexican culture. The Day of the Dead is largely seen as having a festive characteristic.^[8]

Traditions connected with the holiday include honoring the deceased using calaveras and marigold flowers known as cempazúchitl, building home altars called ofrendas with the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these items as gifts for the deceased.^[9] The celebration is not solely focused on the dead, as it is also common to give gifts to friends such as candy sugar skulls, to share traditional pan de muerto with family and friends, and to write light-hearted and often irreverent verses in the form of mock epitaphs dedicated to living friends and acquaintances, a literary form known as calaveras literarias.^[10]

In 2008, the tradition was inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.^[11]

Origins, history, and similarities to other festivities

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Mexican academics are divided on whether the festivity has genuine indigenous pre-Hispanic roots or whether it is a 20th-century rebranded version of a Spanish tradition developed during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas to encourage Mexican nationalism through an “Aztec” identity.^[12][13][14] The festivity has become a national symbol in recent decades and it is taught in the nation’s school system asserting a native origin.^[15] In 2008, the tradition was inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.^[11]

Views differ on whether the festivity has indigenous pre-Hispanic roots, whether it is a more modern adaptation of an existing European tradition, or a combination of both as a manifestation of syncretism. The beginning of the Christian observance of Allhallowtide, including All Saints’ Day and its vigil, as well as All Souls’ Day, is observed on the same days in places like Spain and Southern Europe, and elsewhere in Christendom.^[1] Critics of the Native American origin claim that even though pre-Columbian Mexico had traditions that honored the dead, current depictions of the festivity have more in common with European traditions of Danse macabre and their allegories of life and death personified in the human skeleton to remind of the ephemeral nature of life.^[16][12] Over the past decades, however, Mexican academia has increasingly questioned the validity of this assumption, even going as far as calling it a politically motivated fabrication. Historian Elsa Malvido, researcher for the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH, or National Institute of Anthropology and History) and founder of the institute’s Taller de Estudios sobre la Muerte (Workshop of Studies on Death), was the first to do so in the context of her wider research into Mexican attitudes to death and disease across the centuries. Malvido completely discards a native or even syncretic origin arguing that the tradition can be fully traced to Medieval Europe. She highlights the existence of similar traditions on the same day, not just in Spain, but in the rest of Catholic Southern Europe and Latin America such as altars for the dead, sweets in the shape of skulls and bread in the shape of bones.^[16]

Agustin Sanchez Gonzalez has a similar view in his article published in the INAH’s bi-monthly journal Arqueología Mexicana. Gonzalez states that, even though the “indigenous” narrative became hegemonic, the spirit of the festivity has far more in common with European traditions of Danse macabre and their allegories of life and death personified in the human skeleton to remind us the ephemeral nature of life. He also highlights that in the 19th-century press there was little mention of the Day of the Dead in the sense that we know it today. All there was were long processions to cemeteries, sometimes ending with drunkenness. Elsa Malvido also points to the recent origin of the tradition of “velar” or staying up all night with the dead. It resulted from the Reform Laws under the presidency of Benito Juarez which forced family pantheons out of Churches and into civil cemeteries, requiring rich families to have servants guard family possessions displayed at altars.^[16]

The historian Ricardo Pérez Montfort has further demonstrated how the ideology known as indigenismo became more and more closely linked to post-revolutionary official projects whereas Hispanismo was identified with conservative political stances. This exclusive nationalism began to displace all other cultural perspectives, to the point that in the 1930s the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl was officially promoted by the government as a substitute for the Spanish Three Kings tradition, with a person dressed up as the deity offering gifts to poor children.^[12]

In this context, the Day of the Dead began to be officially isolated from the Catholic Church by the leftist government of Lázaro Cárdenas motivated both by “indigenismo” and left-leaning anti-clericalism. Malvido herself goes as far as calling the festivity a “Cardenist invention” whereby the Catholic elements are removed and emphasis is laid on indigenous iconography, the focus on death and what Malvido considers to be the cultural invention according to which Mexicans venerate death.^[14][17] Gonzalez explains that Mexican nationalism developed diverse cultural expressions with a seal of tradition but which are essentially social constructs which eventually developed ancestral tones. One of these would be the Catholic Día de Muertos which, during the 20th century, appropriated the elements of an ancient pagan rite.^[12]

One key element of the re-developed festivity which appears during this time is La Calavera Catrina by Mexican lithographer José Guadalupe Posada. According to Gonzalez, while Posada is portrayed in current times as the “restorer” of Mexico’s pre-Hispanic tradition, he was never interested in Native American culture or history. Posada was predominantly interested in drawing scary images which are far closer to those of the European renaissance or the horrors painted by Francisco de Goya in the Spanish War of Independence against Napoleon than to the Mexica tzompantli. The recent trans-Atlantic connection can also be observed in the pervasive use of couplet in allegories of death and the play Don Juan Tenorio by 19th-century Spanish writer José Zorrilla which is represented on this date both in Spain and in Mexico since the early 19th century due to its ghostly apparitions and cemetery scenes.^[12]

Opposing views assert that despite the obvious European influence and clear adoption of symbols and traditions as well as co-option of dates and seasons, there exists some proof of pre-Columbian festivities that were similar in spirit if not substance, with the Aztec people having at least six celebrations during the year that were similar to Day of the Dead, the closest one being Quecholli, a celebration that honored Mixcóatl (the god of war) and was celebrated between October 20 and November 8. This celebration included elements such as the placement of altars with food (tamales) near the burying grounds of warriors to help them in their journey to the afterlife.^[13] Influential Mexican poet and Nobel prize laureate Octavio Paz strongly supported the syncretic view of the Día de Muertos tradition being a continuity of ancient Aztec festivals celebrating death, as is most evident in the chapter “All Saints, Day of the Dead” of his 1950 book-length essay The Labyrinth of Solitude.^[18]

Ruben C. Cordova emphasizes the zeal with which the Spanish attempted to extinguish indigenous religious beliefs and practices, such that it is often difficult to reconstruct their main features. Over time, indigenous converts became extremely devout Catholics. As Mexico modernized, the traditional practices that the Spanish had brought to the Americas survived most robustly in rural and less affluent communities, which had high concentrations of indigenous and mestizo populations. Thus archaic Spanish religious practices in marginal areas came to be mistakenly regarded as the “pure” core of primarily “indigenous” Day of the Dead festivities.^[19][20][21]

The Aztecs devoted two twenty-day months in their ritual calendar to the dead: the ninth and tenth months, which were for children and adults, respectively. Cordova argues that some recollection of these festivals “was compressed down to two days and cryptically celebrated within the Catholic liturgical calendar”, which is why, in Mexico, “unlike other Latin American countries with Day of the Dead traditions — All Saints’ Day is dedicated to children, and All Souls’ Day is dedicated to adults.”^[19]

He also notes that the same object, such as a stone skull carved by the Aztecs, would have different meanings in different religious contexts. For the Aztecs, bones—and skulls in particular—were reservoirs of enormous sacred power. A stone skull could evoke sacrifice, and the skull racks where the skulls of sacrificed captives were displayed. The Spanish could take an Aztec skull and repurpose it by placing it on a holy water font, or under a cross in a cemetery, whereby it would be transformed into a memento mori.^[19]

Regardless of its origin, the festivity has become a national symbol in Mexico and as such is taught in the nation’s school system, typically asserting a native origin. It is also a school holiday nationwide.^[15]

Observance in Mexico

Altars and installations in Mexico City museums and public spaces

In the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, the opening sequence features a Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City. At the time, no such parade took place in Mexico City; one year later, due to the interest in the film and the government desire to promote the Mexican culture, the federal and local authorities decided to organize an actual Día de Muertos parade through Paseo de la Reforma and Centro Historico on October 29, 2016, which was attended by 250,000 people.^{[22][23][24][25]} This could be seen as an example of the pizza effect. The idea of a massive celebration was also popularized in the Disney Pixar movie Coco.

A number of Mexico City’s museums and public spaces have played an important part in developing and promoting urban Day of the Dead traditions through altars and installations. These notable organizations include: Anahuacalli, The Frida Kahlo Museum, The Museum of Popular Cultures, The Dolores Olmedo Museum, The Museum of the First Printing Press, and The Cloister of Sor Juana. From turn of the millennium until the imposition of the James Bond-inspired parade, remarkable large-scale installations were created on the Zocalo, Mexico City’s central square.^[26]

Altars (ofrendas)

During Día de Muertos, the tradition is to build private altars (“ofrendas”) containing the favorite foods and beverages, as well as photos and memorabilia, of the departed. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so the souls will hear the prayers and the words of the living directed to them. These altars are often placed at home or in public spaces such as schools and libraries, but it is also common for people to go to cemeteries to place these altars next to the tombs of the departed.^[7]

Plans for the day are made throughout the year, including gathering the goods to be offered to the dead. During the three-day period families usually clean and decorate graves;^[27] most visit the cemeteries where their loved ones are buried and decorate their graves with ofrendas (altars), which often include orange Mexican marigolds (Tagetes erecta) called cempasúchil (originally named cempōhualxōchitl, Nāhuatl for ‘twenty flowers’). In modern Mexico the marigold is sometimes called Flor de Muerto (‘Flower of Dead’). These flowers are thought to attract souls of the dead to the offerings. It is also believed the bright petals with a strong scent can guide the souls from cemeteries to their family homes.^[28][29] The common name in English, marigold, is derived from Mary’s gold, a name first applied to a similar plant native to Europe, Calendula officinalis.^[30][31][32]

Toys are brought for dead children (los angelitos, or ‘the little angels’), and bottles of tequila, mezcal or pulque or jars of atole for adults. Families will also offer trinkets or the deceased’s favorite candies on the grave. Some families have ofrendas in homes, usually with foods such as candied pumpkin, pan de muerto (‘bread of dead’), and sugar skulls; and beverages such as atole. The ofrendas are left out in the homes as a welcoming gesture for the deceased.^[27][29] Some people believe the spirits of the dead eat the “spiritual essence” of the ofrendas‘ food, so though the celebrators eat the food after the festivities, they believe it lacks nutritional value. Pillows and blankets are left out so the deceased can rest after their long journey. In some parts of Mexico, such as the towns of Mixquic, Pátzcuaro and Janitzio, people spend all night beside the graves of their relatives. In many places, people have picnics at the grave site, as well.

Some families build altars or small shrines in their homes;^[27] these sometimes feature a Christian cross, statues or pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pictures of deceased relatives and other people, scores of candles, and an ofrenda. Traditionally, families spend some time around the altar, praying and telling anecdotes about the deceased. In some locations, celebrants wear shells on their clothing, so when they dance, the noise will wake up the dead; some will also dress up as the deceased.

Food

During Day of the Dead festivities, food is both eaten by living people and given to the spirits of their departed ancestors as ofrendas (‘offerings’).^[33] Tamales are one of the most common dishes prepared for this day for both purposes.^[34]

Pan de muerto and calaveras are associated specifically with Day of the Dead. Pan de muerto is a type of sweet roll shaped like a bun, topped with sugar, and often decorated with bone-shaped pieces of the same pastry.^[35] Calaveras, or sugar skulls, display colorful designs to represent the vitality and individual personality of the departed.^[34]

In addition to food, drinks are also important to the tradition of Day of the Dead. Historically, the main alcoholic drink was pulque; today families will commonly drink the favorite beverage of their deceased ancestors.^[34] Other drinks associated with the holiday are atole and champurrado, warm, thick, non-alcoholic masa drinks.

Agua de Jamaica (water of hibiscus) is a popular herbal tea made of the flowers and leaves of the Jamaican hibiscus plant (Hibiscus sabdariffa), known as flor de Jamaica in Mexico. It is served cold and quite sweet with a lot of ice. The ruby-red beverage is also known as hibiscus tea in English-speaking countries.^[36]

In the Yucatán Peninsula, mukbil pollo (píib chicken) is traditionally prepared on October 31 or November 1, and eaten by the family throughout the following days. It is similar to a big tamale, composed of masa and pork lard, and stuffed with pork, chicken, tomato, garlic, peppers, onions, epazote, achiote, and spices. Once stuffed, the mukbil pollo is bathed in kool sauce, made with meat broth, habanero chili, and corn masa. It is then covered in banana leaves and steamed in an underground oven over the course of several hours. Once cooked, it is dug up and opened to eat.^[37][38]

Calaveras

A common symbol of the holiday is the skull (in Spanish calavera), which celebrants represent in masks, called calacas (colloquial term for skeleton), and foods such as chocolate or sugar skulls, which are inscribed with the name of the recipient on the forehead. Sugar skulls can be given as gifts to both the living and the dead.^[39] Other holiday foods include pan de muerto, a sweet egg bread made in various shapes from plain rounds to skulls, often decorated with white frosting to look like twisted bones.^[29]

Calaverita

In some parts of the country, especially the larger cities, children in costumes roam the streets, knocking on people’s doors for a calaverita, a small gift of candies or money; they also ask passersby for it. This custom is similar to that of Halloween‘s trick-or-treating in the United States, but without the component of mischief to homeowners if no treat is given.^[40]

Calaveras literarias

A distinctive literary form exists within this holiday where people write short poems in traditional rhyming verse, called calaveras literarias (lit. ‘literary skulls‘), which are mocking, light-hearted epitaphs mostly dedicated to friends, classmates, co-workers, or family members (living or dead) but also to public or historical figures, describing interesting habits and attitudes, as well as comedic or absurd anecdotes that use death-related imagery which includes but is not limited to cemeteries, skulls, or the grim reaper, all of this in situations where the dedicatee has an encounter with death itself.^[41][42] This custom originated in the 18th or 19th century after a newspaper published a poem narrating a dream of a cemetery in the future which included the words “and all of us were dead”, and then proceeding to read the tombstones. Current newspapers dedicate calaveras literarias to public figures, with cartoons of skeletons in the style of the famous calaveras of José Guadalupe Posada, a Mexican illustrator.^[39] In modern Mexico, calaveras literarias are a staple of the holiday in many institutions and organizations, for example, in public schools, students are encouraged or required to write them as part of the language class.^[10]

Posada’s most famous print, La Calavera Catrina (“The Elegant Skull”), was likely intended as a criticism of Mexican upper-class women who imitated European fashions. It was first published posthumously in a broadside with a text (not by Posada) that mocked working-class vendors of chickpeas.^[43]

Posada’s image of a skeletal figure with a big hat decorated with two ostrich feathers and flowers was elaborated into a full scale figure by Mexican Muralist Diego Rivera in a fresco painted in 1946–47. Rivera’s Catrina has a simple Tehuana dress and a feather boa, as well as other features that make allusions to the indigenous peoples of Mexico. Through the addition of these indigenous features, Rivera rehabilitated Catrina into a nationalist emblem.^[43]

The Catrina character has become deeply associated with the Day of the Dead. Catrina figures made of a wide range of materials, as well as people with Catrina costumes, have come to play a prominent role in modern Day of the Dead observances in Mexico and elsewhere. The Catrina phenomenon has in fact gone beyond Day of the Dead, resulting in non-seasonal and even permanent “Catrinas”, including COVID-19 masks, tattoos, permanently decorated cars, and Catrina-themed artworks.^{[39][43][44][45]} Some artists have even developed a sub-specialization in Catrina imagery.^[46]

Theatrical presentations of Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla (1817–1893) are also traditional on this day.

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They made us believe that luxury was the rare, the expensive, the exclusive, and everything that seemed unattainable …

Now we realize that luxury were those little things that we did not know how to value when we had them and now that they are gone, we miss them so much …

Luxury is being healthy. Luxury is not stepping in a hospital.
Luxury is being able to walk along the seashore.

Luxury is going out on the streets and breathing without a mask.

Luxury is meeting with your whole family or with your friends.

Smiles are luxury. Luxury is the hugs and kisses.

Luxury is enjoying every sunrise.
Luxury is the privilege of loving and being alive.

All this is a luxury and we did not know …

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WE2019 is a series of celebratory concerts paying homage to the youth of 1969 and their organic concerts that were established with “Peace and Love” all around the globe.

Get ready for a series of outdoor music festivals of a lifetime! From Palm Bay, Florida to West Jefferson, North Carolina…The WE2019 Festivals are only weeks away and this 50th Anniversary of 1969 Concerts will be like no other.

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A Shared Message
It may come as a surprise to those who know me and my mission that I knew very little about Pete Seeger before we met in 2003. I had heard his name and knew he had written “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and “If I Had a Hammer,” but I had no idea what an amazing human being he was. After getting to know him, I agree with Harry Belafonte that Pete’s image should be carved into Mount Rushmore. Pete was as much the embodiment of the American Soul as the others represented there.

What got me most about Pete was his belief that we have all the tools we need to shape ourselves and our world into what we wish them to be. For some, these tools are within our grasp. For some, they are at arm’s length. And for others, they are just beyond arm’s length. But they are still attainable IF we work together. That belief – that message – was embedded in all of Pete’s songs and stories, all of his actions and in every interaction he had with others. I share that belief wholeheartedly. I feel it is so important that it MUST be made more present in our public consciousness. So, I set out shortly after Pete passed to share that message everywhere I go. It is the thread that holds the “Keep the Flame Alive” CD and the “Remembering Pete Seeger” World Tour together.

What is Crowdfunding? It is way for lots of people to make financial contributions – large or small – so artists can continue to make art in an economy that no longer supports them to do so. More and more, artists are finding it impossible to continue their work because of lack of funding. Some of them are quitting but some are turning to “crowdfunding” in order to survive.

People ask me all the time if I am making a living as a full time touring musician. I used to be too embarrassed to tell the truth. But the truth is that while my audiences are getting bigger, my gross income is lower than in was ten years ago. And my expenses have grown to the point where I really can’t continue touring without people helping out. This is because very few people pay for music anymore and funding for the arts has been drastically slashed. But I have chosen to take the proactive route and put together a crowdfunding campaign so I can continue my work.

Think of it as an Investment: If you believe, as I do, that Pete’s music and message need to be kept alive you can think of any contribution you make as in investment in making that happen.

How it works is simple. My friend Art helped me put together a website on Indiegogo.com. When you go to the page you can read about what I am doing and it will allow you to a contribution if you so choose. You can preview this page by clicking on this link: https://www.indiegogo.com/project/preview/e37c032d#/

As you will see, producing my CD will cost me over $33,000. I hope to raise $20,000 – $30,000 through the crowdfunding campaign. This will allow me to pay the bills I have accumulated recording the CD and continue bringing Pete’s music and message around the world. I will also be able to promote the CD the way it deserves to be promoted – starting with hiring a radio promoter to get it out to hundreds of radio stations.

The way the page is set up, people are welcome to make any level of contribution they wish – including nothing. But, at certain levels there are “Perks.” Most of the perks are unlimited – meaning no matter how many people choose that perk, they will get it. For instance, I will never run out of CDs to give as perks because I can always manufacture more. (And don’t worry, CDs will still be available for sale at gigs just like they always have been.)

There are a limited number of some Perks. For instance, one contributor will be the first to know the full story of how I got my name. Only one person can receive that perk. Only two people can choose to be “Executive Producer.” Other perks are also limited in number, too. On top of that, because of timing issues …

Certain perks need to be claimed by April 15: This is because these perks get your name in the CD credits. All of the text for the CD cover and booklet need to get to the CD manufacturer by April 15. So, the perks that involve getting your name in the CD credits need to be claimed by then.

I am telling you and a small number of others about the campaign before it officially launches on Monday, March 7, because you have been a tremendous supporter of mine over the years and I want you to have first dibs at the perks. You can look at the page now by clicking this link https://www.indiegogo.com/project/preview/e37c032d#/. This way you have time to decide if you want to participate and if you want a particular perk.

Some of the Perks are expensive, so there is no expectation that you or anyone else give anything at all. I understand that the time needs to be right for someone to donate to this campaign. So many people have already given and will continue to give me a lot of support in other ways. But for some people, the time is right and they might feel left out if I didn’t tell them about this.

You also have the option to Make up your own Perk. Let me know if you have something original in mind. If it makes sense, I’ll consider it.

THANKS YOU !! – Whether the time is right or not, whether you choose to contribute or not, I thank you for all the support you have given me over the years. Remembering you can contribute any amount including nothing, whether you choose a perk or not.

If you have any questions, let me know. My phone number is 732-418-1340 and my email is spook@spookhandy.com.

Pastures of Plenty!!

– Spook :->

CHECK OUT SPOOK’S CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN on Indiegogo.
(More info coming in the next day or two)
to support his new CD “Pete Woody and Me, Vol. I – Keep the Flame Alive”
and the “Remembering Pete Seeger” World Tour
of all 50 U.S. States, all 11 Canadian provinces, many other countries, all 21 NJ counties

Spook Handy
109 Nichol Ave # B
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732-418-1340

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Warren Hegg
National Supervisor
“Keep the Spirit of ’45 Alive
www.Spiritof45.org
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408.857.5252

-J Day in Times Square is a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt that portrays an American sailor kissing a woman in a white dress on Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day) in Times Square in New York City, on August 14, 1945.

The photograph, taken with a Leica IIIa camera, was published a week later in Life magazine among many photographs of celebrations around the United States that were presented in a twelve-page section titled Victory Celebrations.[1] A two-page spread faces three other kissing poses among celebrators in Washington, D.C., Kansas City, and Miamiopposite Eisenstaedt’s, which was given a full-page display. Kissing was a favorite pose encouraged by media photographers of service personnel during the war, but Eisenstaedt was photographing a spontaneous event that occurred in Times Square as the announcement of the end of the war on Japan was made by U.S. President Harry S. Truman at seven o’clock. Similar jubilation spread quickly with the news.

http://bits.wikimedia.org/static-1.24wmf15/skins/common/images/magnify-clip.png
Alfred Eisenstaedt signing his famous “V-J Day” photograph on the afternoon of August 23, 1995, while sitting in his Menemsha Inn cabin located on Martha’s Vineyard. He died shortly after midnight about 8 hours later.
The photograph is known under various titles, such as V-J Day in Times Square, V-Day, and The Kiss.[2][3]

The official United States celebration is not on this date, however. V-J Day is instead celebrated on September 2, the date of the formal signing of the surrender.[4] A special day of remembrance is marked in Japan and other countries on September 2.

Because Eisenstaedt was photographing rapidly changing events during the celebrations he did not have an opportunity to get the names and details. The photograph does not clearly show the faces of either person involved in this embrace and several people have claimed to be the subjects. The photograph was shot just south of 45th Street looking north from a location where Broadway and Seventh Avenue converge. Soon afterward, throngs of people crowded into the square and it became a sea of people.

Contents
[hide] · 1 Accounts by Alfred Eisenstaedt
· 2 Another photograph of the same scene
· 3 Identity of the kissers
· 4 The photograph in popular culture
· 5 See also
· 6 References
· 7 External links
Accounts by Alfred Eisenstaedt[edit] In two different books he wrote, Alfred Eisenstaedt gave two slightly different accounts of taking the photograph and of its nature.

From Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt:

In Times Square on V.J. Day I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn’t make a difference. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder but none of the pictures that were possible pleased me. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same. I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds.
Only one is right, on account of the balance. In the others the emphasis is wrong — the sailor on the left side is either too small or too tall. People tell me that when I am in heaven they will remember this picture.
From The Eye of Eisenstaedt:

I was walking through the crowds on V-J Day, looking for pictures. I noticed a sailor coming my way. He was grabbing every female he could find and kissing them all — young girls and old ladies alike. Then I noticed the nurse, standing in that enormous crowd. I focused on her, and just as I’d hoped, the sailor came along, grabbed the nurse, and bent down to kiss her. Now if this girl hadn’t been a nurse, if she’d been dressed dark clothes, I wouldn’t have had a picture. The contrast between her white dress and the sailor’s dark uniform gives the photograph its extra impact.
It became a cultural icon overnight and by establishing his copyright, Eisenstaedt carefully controlled the rights to it, only allowing a limited number of reproductions which determined how it could be used.[citation needed]

Another photograph of the same scene[edit] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png
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Jorgensen’s similar photograph
U.S. Navy photo journalist Victor Jorgensen captured another view of the same scene, which was published in the New York Times the following day.[5] Jorgensen titled his photograph Kissing the War Goodbye. It shows less of Times Square in the background, lacking the characteristic view of the complex intersection so that the location needs to be identified, it is dark and shows few details of the main subjects, and it does not show the lower legs and feet of the subjects.

Unlike the Eisenstaedt photograph, which is protected by copyright, this Navy photograph is in the public domain as it was produced by a federal government employee on official duty. While the angle of the photograph may be less interesting than that of Eisenstaedt’s photo, it clearly shows the actual location of the iconic kiss occurring in the front of the Chemical Bank and Trust Building, with the Walgreens Pharmacy signage on the building façade visible in the background.

Identity of the kissers[edit] Edith Shain wrote to Eisenstaedt in the late 1970s claiming to be the woman in the picture.[6] In August 1945, Shain was working at Doctor’s Hospital in New York City as a nurse when she and a friend heard on the radio that World War II had ended. They went to Times Square where all the celebrating was and as soon as she arrived on the street from the subway, the sailor grabbed her in an embrace and kissed her. She related that at the time she thought she might as well let him kiss her since he fought for her in the war. Shain did not claim that she was the woman in the white dress until many years later when she wrote to Eisenstaedt. He notified the magazine that he had received her letter claiming to be the subject.[citation needed]

Since the identity of the woman had been claimed, in its August 1980 issue, the editors of Life asked that the kissing sailor come forward. In the October 1980 issue, the editors reported that eleven men and three women had come forward claiming to be the subjects of the photograph. Listed in the October 1980 issue as claiming to be the woman were Greta Friedman and Barbara Sokol as well as Edith Shain.[citation needed]

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Edith Shain at the 2008 Memorial Day parade inWashington, D.C.
On June 20, 2010, Shain died at age 91, following a battle with liver cancer.[7] In April 2012 the issue of who the woman was remained as a new book on the topic was about to be released. The authors, George Galdorisi and Lawrence Verria, stated that Shain could not have been the woman because her height of just four feet ten inches was insufficient in comparison with the height of any of the men claiming to be the sailor.[8]

Those claiming to be the sailor were Donald Bonsack, John Edmonson, Wallace C. Fowler, Clarence “Bud” Harding, Walker Irving, James Kearney, Marvin Kingsburg, Arthur Leask, George Mendonça, Jack Russell, and Bill Swicegood.[9]

George Mendonça of Newport, Rhode Island, was identified by a team of volunteers from the Naval War College in August 2005 as “the kisser”. His claim was based on matching his scars and tattoos to scars and tattoos in the photograph.[6] They made their determination after much study including photographic analysis by the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who were able to match scars and tattoo spotted by photograph experts, and the testimony of Richard M. Benson, a photograph analysis expert, professor of photographic studies, plus the former Dean of the School of Arts at Yale University. Mr Benson has stated that, “It is therefore my opinion, based upon a reasonable degree of certainty, that George Mendonça is the sailor in Mr. Eisenstaedt’s famous photograph.”[6]

Mendonça, on leave from the USS The Sullivans (DD-537), was watching a movie with his future wife, Rita,[6] at Radio City Music Hall when the doors opened and people started screaming the war was over. George and Rita joined the partying on the street, but when they couldn’t get into the packed bars decided to walk down the street. It was then that George saw a woman in a white dress walk by and took her into his arms and kissed her, “I had quite a few drinks that day and I considered her one of the troops—she was a nurse.”[6] In one of the four pictures that Eisenstaedt took, Mendonça claims that Rita is visible in the background behind the kissing couple.[6]

In 1987, George Mendonça filed a lawsuit against Time Inc. in Rhode Island state court, alleging that he was the sailor in the photograph and that both Time and Lifehad violated his right of publicity by using the photograph without his permission. After Time Inc. removed the case to federal court, Mendonça survived a motion to dismiss.[10]

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George Mendonça and Greta Friedman, guests of honor at the Bristol, Rhode Island, July 4 parade in 2009
Although the issue of who the kissers were/are was no longer contended in a court of law, it continues to this day.

Life’s October 1980 issue did not include Glenn McDuffie or Carl Muscarello, who are described below.[11] These claims have been made much more recently.

Mendonça and Friedman (both individually and together), as well as Shain, Muscarello and McDuffie, were widely interviewed in the succeeding years by Life, PBS, NBC, CBS and others. The life stories of Mendonça and Friedman, and how they came to be in Times Square that day, as well as the reasons they are considered most likely to be the ones photographed, are the subject of a detailed book on the photo.[12] Mendonça recognizes Friedman to the exclusion of any other woman as the “nurse” he kissed in the photographs (or, to be precise, the woman in the white uniform, as Friedman was a dental assistant—a nurse’s uniform was customary in a dentist’s office to be worn by female assistants and hygienists in that era).[13]

Carl Muscarello is a retired police officer with the New York City Police Department, now living in Plantation, Florida. In 1995, he claimed to be the kissing sailor. He claimed that he was in Times Square on August 14, 1945, and that he kissed numerous women. A distinctive birthmark on his hand enabled his mother to identify him as the subject. Edith Shain initially said she believed Muscarello’s claim to be the sailor and even dated after their brief reunion. But in 2005, Shain was much less certain, telling the New York Times, “I can’t say he isn’t. I just can’t say he is. There is no way to tell.”[14] Muscarello has described his condition on August 14, 1945 as being quite drunk[15] and having no clear memory of his actions in the square, stating that his mother claimed he was the man after seeing the photograph and he came to believe it.[16]

Glenn McDuffie laid claim in 2007 and was supported by Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson.[17] Gibson’s forensic analysis compared the Eisenstaedt photographs with current-day photographs of McDuffie, analyzing key facial features identical on both sets. She measured his ears, facial bones, hairline, wrist, knuckles, and hand, and compared those to enlargements of Eisenstaedt’s picture.

“I could tell just in general that yes, it’s him,” said Gibson, a 25-year department veteran. “But I wanted to be able to tell other people so I replicated the pose.”[18] In the August 14, 2007 issue of AM New York McDuffie said he passed five polygraph tests confirming his claim to be the man.[19] He says that on that day he was on the subway to Brooklyn to visit his girlfriend, Ardith Bloomfield.[19] He came out of the subway at Times Square, where people were celebrating in the streets. Excited that his brother, who was being held by the Japanese as a prisoner of war, would be released, McDuffie began hollering and jumping up and down. A nurse saw him, and opened her arms to him. In apparent conflict with Eisenstaedt’s recollections of the event, McDuffie said he ran over to her and kissed her for a long time so that Eisenstaedt could take the photograph:

I went over there and kissed her and saw a man running at us…I thought it was a jealous husband or boyfriend coming to poke me in the eyes. I looked up and saw he was taking the picture and I kissed her as long as took for him to take it.[20] Gibson also analyzed photographs of other men who have claimed to be the sailor, including Muscarello and Mendonça, reporting that neither man’s facial bones or other features match those of the sailor in the photograph. On August 3, 2008, Glenn McDuffie was recognized for his 81st birthday as the “Kissing Sailor” during theseventh-inning stretch of the Houston Astros and New York Mets game at Minute Maid Park.[citation needed] McDuffie died on March 14, 2014.[21]

As part of a WW II memorial at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts, a new painting titled “Victory Kiss” by Jim Laurier of New Hampshire was first unveiled on August 24, 2013 to honor the event captured in the photo. George Mendonça was in attendance for the unveiling, stating that just before he kissed the nurse, he had been in New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.[22]

The photograph in popular culture[edit] In 2005, John Seward Johnson II displayed a bronze life-size sculpture, Unconditional Surrender, at an August 14, 2005 sixtieth-anniversary reenactment at Times Square of the event made famous in Eisenstaedt’s photograph. His statue was featured in a ceremony that included Carl Muscarello and Edith Shain, holding a copy of the famous photograph, as participants.[23] Johnson also sculpted 25 feet (7.6 m)-tall versions in plastic and aluminum, which have been displayed in several cities, including San Diego (right) and Sarasota.[24][25][26]

In the 2009 film, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, a life-size blow-up of the photograph plays an important role when characters Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) and Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) escape pursuers by jumping into it and emerging in a monochrome 1945 Times Square, and losing a cell phone, which catches the attention of one of the background sailors, Joey Motorola, played by actor Jay Baruchel. Then Ben Stiller cut in on the sailor for a kiss with the nurse, played by actress Alberta Mayne before jumping out of the photo.[citation needed]

The picture is referenced – albeit showing a different camera – in the 2009 film Watchmen, which depicts alternate history versions of iconic moments in American history. During the opening credits, The Silhouette, a costumed heroine, kisses a female nurse.

In the 2010 film, Letters to Juliet, the Eisenstaedt photograph is featured in a scene where an editor of the New Yorker questions Sophie about her fact-checking (her job there) of the image as if it would be published in that magazine as a full-page feature. He questions her closely about whether the photograph was staged and most importantly whether it truly was “spontaneous and romantic.” Sophie gives him several pieces of information obtained from a sailor in the background of the photograph. She assures the editor that all of these facts were thoroughly checked and found to be correct, so he need have no concern.

The kiss was parodied in the The Simpsons episode, “Bart the General”. As celebrations ensue following victory for Bart in a battle against the school bully, a young boy dressed as a sailor kisses Lisa as a photograph is taken. After the photograph is taken, Lisa rebukes the boy, telling him to ‘knock it off’ and slapping him in the face.[citation needed]

In 2012, while performing a show for the Marines during the New York City Fleet Week, singer Katy Perry kissed a man on stage, replicating the pose.[27]

In the 2012 film Men in Black III, Will Smith views The Kiss occurring while time traveling after his fall from the skyscraper.

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