At a time when many Hispanic and Latin-x celebrations are being scaled back or canceled because of federal immigration detention efforts, one group is hoping to provide a sense of familiarity with a time-honored tradition.
ALMAS’ third annual Día de Muertos: Celebrating Community and Life, a free and family friendly celebration of Day of the Dead, will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Riverwalk Grand Pavilion in Naperville.
Día de los Muertos is widely celebrated Nov. 1 and 2 in Mexico and Latin America. Loved ones who have died are honored and remembered with food, music and fellowship in gatherings that feature such elements such as skulls, marigolds and bright colors. People create homemade altars called ofrendas, where they leave the deceased’s favorite trinkets, foods and drinks.
This year’s event will include all the trappings of a traditional Dia de Muertos, said Lili Burciaga, founder and board president of ALMAS (Alliance of Latinos Motivating Action in the Suburbs). There will be a community altar to which people are invited to add items like pictures and other mementos.
“I think a lot of folks will be intrigued by is our symbolic graveyard,” Burciaga said. “This is where we have symbolic tombs that community members can reserve and they can decorate an ofrenda on it. An ofrenda is an offering to a loved one.”
In addition to the tombs and altar, people can add tributes to their loved ones at the Reflections of Life memorial and the Monarch Remembrance Tree. ALMAS is inviting attendees to participate in these offerings and/or to volunteer at the event by signing up in advance at facebook.com/almascommunity.
“This year we’re adding a little bit extra to it and there will be a little more aesthetic to improve that idea of a symbolic gravesite,” Burciaga said. “In Mexico, traditionally families will clean the gravesites and … they become a place where families gather. We want it to have that same feeling where we welcome the whole community to come out and enjoy the music and dancing.”
The event will include traditional indigenous ceremonies and dances of Mexico, folkloric Mexican dance, mariachi, children’s storytelling and interactive cultural workshops, she said.
“I think an act people will be really excited about is the Mariachi Sirenas, an all-female mariachi from Chicago,” she said. “Oftentimes with mariachi we see male influences. It’s exciting to see an all-female group that’s really successful in the area.”
There will be plenty of arts and cultural elements at Dia de Muertos as well, including a community art project, mask making, face painting and marigold flower making.
“Jose Art will be back doing live painting of Catrinas,” she said. “This is more of a contemporary twist on the Catrinas.”
The Mercadito artisan market will have vendors selling food, artisan goods and unique items as well as nonprofit groups handing out information.
One of the highlights of this year’s event will be art from Emmanuel Arturo Zarate of Patibulario Art and Craft. Zarate, who studied at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico City. He will be bringing some of his huge art sculptures, including Catrinas and alebrijes — brightly colored Mexican folk art typically depicting mythical creatures — to the event.
“While he did have some art exhibited last year at our event, it was on a much smaller scale,” she said. “This year we’ll get to see the monumental pieces he’s created.”
There will be several food vendors on site serving Mexican and American fare. A children’s tent will have art workshops and face painting. An inaugural Catrinas and Catrins contest is planned, she said.
Dia de Muertos is a great way for people to connect with others and learn about different ways to experience loss and grief, Burciaga said.
“Loving and losing people … is something that we all have in common as human beings,” she said. “It’s a way for us to connect around the celebration of life — life is beautiful, love is beautiful and love doesn’t die. That’s really what it’s about. We want to celebrate the beauty of love together.”
For more information, go to almascommunity.org/our-programs/día-de-muertos.
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
