My family is from a little town called Tomatlán, Jalisco, and the tradition is to go to the cemetery to honor our relatives. This is personally one of my favorite times of the year. I have a daughter, and she might not have known my father but because I bring him into my home every year, she feels connected to him. I think that’s a beautiful way to keep those people we love present and to teach our families about them. Or, you can make your own altar and it can just be very simple-a candle and a photo. Mourning can be a very isolating thing, and some people want to be in community to connect with others going through a similar experience. But that is one way for people to really connect with others. In Tucson, we have the All Souls Procession, but from what I understand, the organizers see that as something very different it’s related, but it’s not a Día de los Muertos event. I would find ways to participate in a community celebration where they’re actually honoring that tradition. It’s not wrong to want to honor your loved ones, and if you do that with that intention, I think that’s a beautiful thing. And for kids, The Remembering Day/El día de los muertos (Piñata Books, 2015), by Pat Mora. I would recommend Juanita Garciagodoy’s Digging the Days of the Dead: A Reading of Mexico’s Dias de Muertos (University Press of Colorado, 1998) for adults. There are some really great books out there.
You take the time to close the ceremony or that moment of engagement with your memories and those ancestors who are no longer with us. And you don’t leave the altar up for days, because it’s sacred.
In those two days, you spend time with those memories. But, because of migration, sometimes we’re not in the places where our loved ones are buried, so you make the altars in your home.īut many people do it differently: Some people have full-on parties, and some people have a velación, or observance, which means you just honor your loved ones not necessarily with prayer, but in a solemn space. Some people, depending on where you are in the world, go to the cemetery to build their altars. You can also include a representation of the four elements, so a candle or copal-incense-for fire, a cup of water, and then the wind and earth might be represented by papel picado. The altars can be made in so many ways, but some of the core elements would be a photo of the deceased, their favorite foods, flowers. Many argue that if you remember them, they never cease to exist. Here, Téllez, who is also the department’s director of graduate studies, discusses the history, traditions, and imagery of Día de los Muertos, how the holiday has changed over millennia, and how those interested can participate:ĭía de los Muertos is an opportunity for families to create altars for their loved ones.
Téllez, an associate professor in the Mexican American studies department in the University of Arizona’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, researches transnational community formations, Chicana mothering, gendered migration, and more. The holiday’s unique symbols are ubiquitous in some locations come October: Calaveras, or skulls-often in the form of edible, decorative sugar skulls-and papel picado, pieces of colorful paper with intricately cut-out designs. Día de los Muertos is a time for people to mourn the loss of family members and friends, and to ensure they’re never forgotten, says Michelle Téllez.ĭía de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a holiday with roots in Mexico that’s now celebrated over two days, November 1 and 2, all over the world.
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