From colorful altars to family recipes, here’s how the Latino diaspora in Southern California marks Día de los Muertos
Four years ago, small business owner Aracelli Aguirre, whose family is from Ecuador, wanted to bring a taste of her home country to Los Angeles. What started as a small pop-up has led to the opening of Ecuadorian breakfast spot Cafe Fresco on Wilshire Blvd., serving traditional Ecuadorian food and drink during Día de los Muertos.
“These (recipes) are something I feel have become more special because it’s passed down through the family,” Aguirre said. “It’s something we can keep forever, even when we’re not all together to celebrate anymore… I think keeping the traditions alive is the most important thing.”
Día de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead,” originated in Mexico during Aztec times and is rooted in Catholic and Christian religious traditions like All Soul’s Day, observed Nov. 2nd.
Usually marked by various Latin cultures between late October and Nov. 2, the holiday is all about honoring and celebrating the dead, whose spirits are also believed to visit their family members.
Across diverse Latin countries and traditions, no two celebrations are the same. Many families observe the holiday by setting up a home altar — called an “ofrenda” — adorned with flowers and photos of deceased loved ones. Decorated painted skulls, ofrendas with candles, marigolds, and bright, festive colors are all elements of most celebrations. Families also traditionally visit their loved ones at cemeteries and gravesites.
Food and drink — including fresh “pan de muerto,” fruits and candies, calavera sugar skulls, tequila and more — are typically offered to souls who have died, to pray for their journey visiting family during the Day of the Dead.
While California’s Latino population is largely Mexican — 83%, according to the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute — many other Latino populations also mark Día de los Muertos with different customs, some mixed and others close to family.
Aguirre and her family are from Quito, Ecuador, and have celebrated Día de los Difuntos — another name for the holiday in many Ecuadorian, Colombian and Salvadorian cultures — for as long as she can remember. She’s served “guaguas de pan” (bread baked to look like babies) and “colada morada,” a fruit-based drink, at Cafe Fresco for the last four years.
“In Quito, we celebrate just with the bread dolls and drink. The colada morada is actually my grandma’s recipe,” Aguirre, 30, said. She recently named the colorful colada drink after her mom. “This is a way we can show people our food and culture, and they can learn about why we eat these things, the benefits of being grown at a certain altitude and in different parts of the country.”
Ecuadorian families celebrating Día de los Difuntos don’t typically make ofrendas, Aguirre said, but usually visit the grave of a lost loved one, bringing food and drink as offerings. For Aguirre and her family, making traditional dishes is one way of keeping culture — and memories of loved ones — alive.
Moreno Valley resident Erika Nupia-Baylon, who is a mix of Ecuadorian, Colombian and Cuban, said she celebrates the Day of the Dead in a simple and personal way. She visits the cemetery to decorate her ancestors’ graves with candles and favorite flowers, praying they will have a good journey visiting family on the holiday. She offers flowers and makes “bolones de chicharrón y queso,” an Ecuadorian dish, for her family’s ofrenda for her great-grandma and more family members who have died.
“It’s a way to honor and cherish their memories,” Nupia-Baylon, 34, said. “Even though they’re no longer here, it keeps me connected to them in some type of way.”
Nupia-Baylon said she combines different Day of the Dead traditions with her husband, who is Mexican and Black. While decorating, she likes to incorporate yellows, reds and blues — the colors of the Colombian flag.
“I tend to focus more on what my ancestors liked… to make sure that they know that they’re loved,” she said. “I usually go more with that Colombian and Ecuadorian mixture, just because they’re side by side.”
Sylmar resident Isela Flores remembers helping her late mother, Blanca Martinez, organize various Día de los Muertos celebrations at L.A. Catholic cemeteries.
After Martinez passed away earlier this year, Flores wanted to honor her mother, who started the tradition at local Catholic cemeteries around 30 years ago, with a modern, neutral altar that “embodies her culture, legacy and dedication” to service.
Flores will visit the San Fernando Mission Cemetery to set up her family’s first ofrenda as part of the L.A. Archdiocese’s Día de los Muertos celebration on Saturday, Nov. 2 for All Soul’s Day. She said it’s her first Día de los Muertos without her mother.
“When you lose somebody, it really opens your eyes,” Flores said. “This is the first loss I’ve experienced so I want to make sure this tradition and memories are kept alive.”
Special, neat touches Flores added to her family’s ofrenda include integrating Martinez’s favorite nude color palette and chocolate candies. She also likes adding candy skulls and colorful papel picado.
Being Catholic, engaging with the church and getting her mother’s altar blessed at the cemetery brought Flores “a lot of peace,” the 31-year-old shared. Her faith and community have made it easier to get through the last few months since her mom’s death.
“We have to remember them and be happy knowing their spirits return during this time,” Flores said. “We get to honor our loved ones, to keep them alive. Even though my mom isn’t here with us, this is an opportunity for her spirit to come and visit us and see all the little details we added to the altar for her.”
Other diverse Día de los Muertos traditions were shared among families, cities, cemeteries, religious settings and more across the Southland.
The Diocese of Orange hosted its celebration on Friday, Oct. 25, called the “Noche de Altares” at the Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove. More than 1,500 families attended, and it was the first time the event has been held at the cathedral, according to Bradley Zint, assistant director of communications.
In past years, “Noche de Altares” was held at the Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange, Zint said. Last week’s community event included a Mass and procession, cultural performances and elaborate altars.
Downtown San Pedro also kicked off the fall holiday with its annual community festival on Oct. 26 that featured elaborate costumes, an ofrenda contest, live mariachi performances, and a “Catrina Contest” centered around one of the most recognizable symbols of Día de los Muertos, the “La Catrina” female skeleton.
Other upcoming Day of the Dead celebrations in the Inland Empire include a free exhibit at the Ontario Museum of History & Art in Ontario, which incorporates related art and altar installations through Nov. 17. Other celebrations, including a street party, art auction and a “Día Around the World” event, are planned in Riverside, San Bernardino and Redlands on Saturday, Nov. 2 and Sunday, Nov. 3.
In Orange County, among the many upcoming celebrations is a service for the departed at the Anaheim Cemetery on Saturday evening, which will feature folklorico performances.
The free, 9th annual Día de los Muertos parade and community festival will take over the streets of downtown Long Beach on Saturday and Sunday.
Gloria Molina Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles will also conclude its 15-day celebration on Saturday, featuring unique altars all themed “Finding Peace Through Memories and Hope for the Future.”
“This celebration allows us to remember the lives of the people we lost, whether it’s been days or decades,” said artist-curator Consuelo G. Flores. “It allows us to tell the stories of who they were, teaching the generations that come after, the lessons of the ancestors.”