This weekend will not just be filled with Halloween celebrations and trick or treating around the city, but there will also be celebrations for Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
Dia de los Muertos is a traditional Mexican holiday where people reunite with and honor ancestors, family and friends. The brief reunion period includes offerings of food, drink, and items set out on makeshift altars called ofrendas.
Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee is not only encouraging families to make their own ofrendas in their Lady of Guadalupe section through Nov. 3, but they’re also having a Dia de los Muertos festivalon Oct. 29.
Leading up to the festival, students from the Milwaukee area were invited to create their own ofrendas in Forest Home's chapel, including a group of eighth-grade students from St. Joesph Academy.
Blanca Gallegos, the dean of culture for St. Joseph Academy, says this project was a great opportunity for the class to showcase their skills out in the community. "It has been our first time out since the pandemic hit, so it was a great chance for us to just get out of the classroom and explore all the wonderful things out here in Milwaukee," she says.
The class ofrenda's theme is "Golden Age of Mexico," according to Gallegos. "I want them to get connected more to their roots," she notes. "I know most of them are from Mexico, so the fact that they can do that connection here, it's great."
"The one thing that was fun to brainstorm was the colored paper," says eighth grade student Eduardo. "We could put different layers and then it would look very colorful. I think maybe like spreading around the little puff balls, it would make the thing look a lot more like leaves, which is a very nature type thing."
Some of the students had never built an ofrenda before this class project, but others like Stephanie have past experience.
"Sometimes me and my mom, my sister, my family, we would make our own at home," she recalls. She says she enjoys making them so much that this project was something to look forward to.
"I don't necessarily have a favorite piece because I enjoy decorating things and helping out, so pretty much the whole thing is gonna be my favorite and I can't wait to see how it turns out," says Stephanie.
Local students weren't the only people busy making decorations for the Dia de los Muertos festival this weekend — Forest Home Cemetery service coordinator Ofelia Alarcon also had some projects to complete, including 300 sugar skulls for kids to decorate and four Catrinas.
Mexico's lady of death, La Calavera Catrina, is one of the main symbols for Dia de los Muertos according to Alarcon. "She's basically a fancy skeleton — the fancier the better! She guides our loved one's souls and essentially was created so our loved ones aren't scared of being guided to the afterlife," she explains.
Alarcon and her family made four Catrinas: two traditional ones in Victorian style dresses, plus two more modern Catrinas with simpler designs. They spent about three weeks making them, and Alarcon says they had a great time doing it together.
"I am a first generation Mexican-American, so when [my parents] were growing up they would make these during this time for Day of the Dead for their own family's altars and decorations. So we had a little family time spent making these for the event," she says.
For Alarcon, it's great to see not just students participating, but other community members to help infuse Forest Home Cemetery with new traditions at a place that is all about honoring the dead.
"I just think it's an amazing opportunity to kind of keep these traditions going ... more than anything it's [about] tradition and spending quality time with the family and honoring our loved ones that have passed," she says.
Forest Home Cemetery's Dia de los Muertos Festival & 5K Run Walk is Oct. 29 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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