Día de Muertos, Día de Todos los Santos, Hanal Pixán, and more...
Last weekend on November 1st and November 2nd, celebrations and ceremonies of Día de Muertos, Día de Todos los Santos, Día de Difuntos, Dia de Finados, Hanal Pixán, and more took place. We got submissions from the community about how they observed this day.
From @poeticallyzee
Feliz Día de los Difuntos 🕯💐✨ יום המתים
Today & always, I’m honoring my Central American loved ones & ancestors. I’m thinking of those who lost their lives abruptly & unfairly, thinking of those who lost their due to brutal civil wars, thinking of those who lost their lives during migration, & so on. Being Central American has its joys & laughs but it also has a dark, painful history filled with frustrations that I don’t think anyone ever really understands unless you’re of Central American descent. I’m honoring my people, my family with lots of love & respect 💙 May we never forget them 🕯💐✨
From @kellayday
I was almost not going to post this because 1. It still feels rough and unfinished and 2. This poem could easily be 100 pages long. But after seeing all the ofrendas and messages left to those that passed on, I decided to share mine. While this is mostly about my Abuelita and Tia who passed away, this is also about other members of my family who have gone too soon. When you lose someone close, you learn to live with it but sometimes the pain will creep up in “what if” moments like this. Dia de los Muertos is a time to reflect and celebrate the people who have passed on and I’m glad I went to an event where I could do that and celebrate with all these people too.
This is the altar I made this year in Stockholm, Sweden.
From @guacamole_airlines
In memoria are my Mama Lety, Papa Victor, Tio Mauricio (desaparecido), sobrino Aaron, my tias Emily and Mary who were the first of our family in California, Ursula K. LeGuin, and my Swedish partner’s sobrino Andreas. Continuing the traditions of our family and culture in Sweden, where I moved to study and stayed, has become really important to me. It’s been a bit hard living so far away from my Salvy family and community, but it’s also been a chance to learn how to do things on my own and share our culture to my new friends and family.
From @thenonbinaryexistence
Felíz Día de los fieles difuntos 🇳🇮
This is the first time I celebrate this tradition, which is the tradition and culture of my parents, grandparents, great grandparents etc.
In honor of my dead family members and ancestors, death nor war or colonial mentality that I have been inflicted as a transracial adoptee, did never separate us as it's just another kind of relationship and relating. Never forgotten, always present.
It's the first time I am in Nicaragua during this holiday in 30 years. It's my first nicaraguan altar with nicaraguan flowers bought at the market in León, and candles bought at the Colonial.
I'm claiming my cultural and ancestral legacy. I'm honoring it. I'm living it.
From @el_amilcar_valencia
El Dia De Los Difuntos o Dia De Los Muertos is celebrated all through Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. We remember our loved ones who passed. Being in the US is difficult for Salvadorans whose main activity to celebrate and remember their loved ones is by going to the cemetery, bring flowers to the graves, paint the graves, celebrate in community, and share stories about our ancestors. Here, we are removed from that reality but as all Salvadoran granmas, my family has been setting an altar at our house. Today while setting the pictures of my gramma (Micaela), all my relatives who passed including my brother, and Katie's grandparents we share a few stories with Oscar. They live through us and this day we are grateful for their legacy.
Today we also remember all immigrants who died while crossing the border and all who died in detention centers. There are five people who have died at Stewart Detention Center. Roberto Medina Martinez died 2008, JeanCarlo Jimenez (May 2017), Yulio Castro Garrido (January 2018), Efrain Romero de la Rosa (July 2018), Pedro Arriago Santoya (July 2019)