Photographsįrame and position photographs of people you’ve lost. RELATED: The Fire of Mezcal, Mexico’s Mythical Spirit Hollywood Forever cemetery, 2018/Photo by Erwin Recinos.
Dia de los muertos altar levels code#
Santa Monica Code Enforcement Officers Plea for Help as ‘Murcia Family Gang’ Protect Up to 50 Street Vendors Around Pier Others use petals to make elaborate decorative art on the ground around the ofrenda, such as crosses or skulls. Use loose petals to form an external “pathway” to the foot of the structure, to guide the souls in.
You’ll also spot flower vendors selling them on street corners, as I did recently on Alameda Street and on La Brea Avenue.Ĭlip the flowers just at the stem, and use the bulbs to adorn all along the edges of the levels. I got a bundle for $25 at G&J Flower Distributors on San Julian Street in the Flower District. Get as much of that glorious gold bloom as you can. The “ Mexican marigold ” is native to southeastern Mexico and is the key decorative element besides candles on any ofrenda. San Julian Street, downtown L.A., October 30.
Use a sarape, blanket, or any fabric to cover the levels. The very top perch should hold the photos of the departed you’re honoring, while the middle areas will have the edible items and candles. Use a table, stool, or even a chair to give your ofrenda the necessary levels. Place “earthy” elements to your ofrenda there, like a small or miniature petate (so the souls can lay down and rest). Your ofrenda should have at least two to three levels, preferably starting from the floor. RELATED: Dia de los Muertos Festival ~ Uptown Whittier Ofrenda for Ana Andrade, by the author, Mexico City 2012. And anyway, you’re supposed to actually build an ofrenda at the cemetery, over the grave, and stay all night there drinking and playing music.įinally, remember that an altar at a store or shopping mall is a sales pitch for something, while an ofrenda made at home is usually an intimate, modest offering, meant at its core for an audience that is no longer physically with us … The tradition is always morphing and changing. Ofrendas are much different in an arid town in Chihuahua than they might be in the coffee-producing mountains of Chiapas. Some indigenous communities, for example, frown upon the use of sugar skulls. Just keep in mind that - as folk traditions tend to go - there are no hard rules on what to include on a Dia de los Muertos altar. Most of these items will be available at any Latin supermarket like Northgate or Superior, at swap meets, or at markets like El Mercadito in Boyle Heights. Here’s what you need to complete a Dia de los Muertos ofrenda today, in broad strokes. Detail of ofrenda at El Mercadito, Boyle Heights. If it isn’t, Angelenos of true mettle have just some hours to go to get their stuff together and leave something out for their departed on November 1 and 2. Your ofrenda (“offering”) should already be up. Often the best defense of a valued tradition is to practice it without fail to its purest intent - no matter how anyone else might butcher or exploit it.īut you don’t have a lot of time. You can fume and feel holier-than-thou all you want about it, because there are certainly debatable consequences, as we’ve seen with St. There’s no turning back there’s already a Coco -inspired Disney on Ice show.
It was long coming and overall I welcome it: at a time when the sitting president refers to Mexicans as a threat to Americans, positive popular images and themes related to our neighboring country and the root of many of our lives can’t be anything but good.Īnyone can relate to the concept of honoring one’s ancestors, and that’s why anyone can celebrate Day of the Dead.īy now, after years in which Southern California has led the wayon spreading Muertos cheer to non-Mexicans, the holiday’s sugar skulls and bright cempasúchil flowers adorn products available from Walmart to Etsy, from Pinterest to your town’s tacky Sexy Halloween Costume store. Mexico’s Day of the Dead and its imagery officially crossed into the American mainstream last year.
This post was originally published in October 2018.Īfter Miguel sang “ Remember Me” to Grandma Coco and made the whole world cry in 2017, it was over.
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