Dia De Los Muertos / Day of the Dead

Is celebrated by the Latin community on November 2nd All Souls Day, it's a day for celebrating the lives of our dearly departed. I have never participated by making an altar, I'm just not that creative, however, I love viewing the creativity of others and appreciate a glimpse into the lives of the deceased.



The traditional altar is how most people commemorate loved ones by including their favorite foods, beverages and hobbies. If I created an altar for my sister I would include miniature 45 rpm vinyl records, a phone (she was always on it!), a dancing calavera (skeleton) dressed in pink, yellow and red my sister's favorite colors, a blue car (she loved driving), a can of 7-Up and a steak (she would eat steak to celebrate achieving a goal).



This artist's oil painting tells of  his father being a Pachuco (a pre-cursor to today's gang member) who dressed very well, was a boxer, liked to gamble and restored cars - he successfully conveys this, right?





These individual artists used mosaic and quilt to commemorate their grandmother and mother, respectively.

The mosaic illustrates the grandmother's love of gambling with the use of dominoes, a watch from her era and a favorite doll.

The quilt illustrates that the artist's mother was very ill, the black bird represents that death is imminent and the green trees encircling the bed that her mother was not afraid of dying and has faith she's going to a better place.