Day of the Dead gets new life in U.S.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Growing up in South Texas, Kiko Torres saw the Day of the Dead as an obscure holiday celebrated in southern Mexico. Few people dared to discuss it in his small but strong Catholic, Mexican-American community.
Still, Torres said he became fascinated by Day of the Dead folk art and ceremonies he saw during his father's research trips to Mexico. Those images of dancing skeleton figurines and the event's spiritual messages of honoring the dead, he said, were misunderstood in the United States.
"People here thought it was something to be scared of or evil," said Torres.
But that's changing. In the last decade or so, this traditional Latin American holiday with indigenous roots has spread throughout the U.S. along with migration from Mexico and other countries where it is observed.
Not only are U.S.-born Latinos adopting the Day of the Dead, but various underground and artistic non-Latino groups have begun to mark the Nov. 1-2 holidays through colorful celebrations, parades, exhibits and even bike rides and mixed martial arts fights.
In Houston, artists hold a "Day of the Dead Rock Stars" where they pay homage to departed singers like Joey Ramone, Johnny Cash and even "El Marvin Gaye." Community centers in Los Angeles build altars for rapper Tupac Shakur and Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
"It's everywhere now," said Carlos Hernandez, 49, a Houston-based artist who launched the "Day of the Dead Rock Stars" event. "You can even get Dia de los Muertos stuff at Wal-Mart."
The Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, honors departed souls of loved ones who are welcomed back for a few intimate hours. At burial sites or intricately built altars, photos of loved ones are centered on skeleton figurines, bright decorations, candles, candy and other offerings such as the favorite foods of the departed. Pre-Columbian in origin, many of the themes and rituals now are mixtures of indigenous practices and Roman Catholicism.
The holiday is celebrated in Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil and parts of Ecuador.
Leading up to the day, bakers make sugar skulls and sweet "bread of the dead," and artists create elaborate paper cut-out designs that can be hung on altars. Some families keep private night-long vigils at burial sites.
Albuquerque's National Hispanic Cultural Center hosts an annual "Dia de los Muertos Community Gathering," featuring many of the artists from Masks y Mas. The community "ofrenda" -- the term for a Day of the Dead offering or homemade altar -- features blessings, live music and poetry, Oct. 17-Nov. 8. The center also is exhibiting an altar by Mexican-American novelist Sandra Cisneros dedicated to her mother.
The exhibits and events are not limited to the Southwest. Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology has a Day of the Dead altar on permanent display and offers Day of the Dead art classes to students in second to eighth grades. And in New York City, the Brooklyn Arts Council recently initiated a yearlong Day of the Dead education project to heighten public awareness "on mourning and remembrance."
The growing Latin American population in the U.S. and the increased influence of Hispanic culture here in everything from food to TV programming are obviously major factors in the growth of Day of the Dead celebrations. But the holiday's increased popularity may also coincide with evolving attitudes toward death, including a move away from private mourning to more public ways of honoring departed loved ones, whether through online tributes or sidewalk memorials.
"I think it has to do with Sept. 11," said Albuquerque, N.M.-based artist Kenny Chavez. "We're all looking at death differently, and the Day of the Dead allows us to talk about it."
