(Day of the Dead: To each land, its customs)

Most of the time, I think living in two places has its advantages. Sure, it is incredibly frustrating to want to put your hands on a book right this very minute and realize that it is 1,892.25 miles away (according to Mapquest), but the benefits of experiencing two vastly different locales often outweigh the disadvantages. One of the perks of living in two places is exposure to different cultural communities and traditions. Yet every so often, like my books, I’m not in the place I want to be.

Don’t get me wrong — there are plenty of things to like about Washington DC, but there are times when I long to be at home in my adobe casita in Barelas, an historic neighborhood nestled next to the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is one of those times. My favorite holiday of the year is coming up, and Día de los Muertos just isn’t the same in Washington DC.

Día de los Muertos Altar National Hispanic Culture Center October 28, 2007
Photo copyright Venerable Photography

In case you haven’t spent much time near the US/Mexican border, or are not fortunate enough to live near a community that makes a point of celebrating this holiday, Día de los Muertos is a holiday of Mexican origin that honors the dead. The holiday stretches over two days; on November 1st the day is dedicated to remembering deceased children, los angelitos; November 2nd is reserved for remembering adults who have died. Contrary to what you might think, Día de los Muertos is not a solemn holiday marked by tears and somber eulogies; instead, it is a holiday filled with colorful flowers and colorful memories, good cheer and good food (For more detailed information about Día de los Muertos, check out this website of an American/Mexican joint celebration of the holiday in El Paso, Texas, USA and Ciudad de Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico).

There are private and public holiday rituals. My family always starts by setting up an altar in our home. First, we carefully select photographs of those we want to remember and honor, looking for pictures that show a person’s essence — whether it is a shy smile or a candid snapshot capturing a favorite pastime. We surround these pictures with traditional orange-yellow marigolds, papel picado candles, pan de muertos, calaveras or sugar skulls (I prefer the kind with names written on the forehead), a glass or two of water, and bottles of vino y cerveza. Then we include special items that once belonged to the deceased. These can vary wildly — from a first edition of Paul Lawrence Dunbar poems to a hunk of schist dotted with quartz collected in the Santa Ana Mountains of California to a dog collar with tags.

Día de los Muertos Altar honoring Diego Rivera at National Hispanic Culture Center October 28, 2007
Copyright Venerable Photography

This will be my 4th Día de los Muertos in Washington DC, and I’m still trying to figure out where to get the best pan de muertos in DC, and which panaderías will personalize sugar skulls with names piped in icing, and where to buy armfuls of locally grown marigolds without breaking my budget (Reader tips welcome!). But I have figured out where to spend some of my Día de los Muertos time this year, and that is at the Cultural Institute of Mexico’s annual opening of the Altar de Muertos (Altar of the Dead) on November 2 at 7 pm in Northwest DC. This year’s altar will be dedicated to famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, commemorating the 100th anniversary of her birth in 1907.

Did I say there are disadvantages to living in two places? Let me correct that. There’s something serendipitous about the public celebrations of the holiday in my two cities, starting last weekend with the National Hispanic Culture Center in Albuquerque whose Día de los Muertos altar was dedicated to the master muralist Diego Rivera and wrapping up the holiday by honoring the contributions of Rivera’s artist wife Frida Kahlo at the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Washington DC. We should all be so lucky.

Disclaimer: Although Teresa Blankmeyer Burke has many institutional and other affiliations, the contents of this blog represent Teresa’s personal views only, and are not associated with any of her professional affiliations.