By Jose Dominguez, October, 24, 2019 — I have a lot of things to celebrate here in the US and added to that, the Mexican holidays. The positive thing is that celebrations are something I enjoy, but what to celebrate of Dia de Los Muertos? It had no sense for me, even when I did a lot of trips in Mexico to the cemetery to take flowers to my dear father, relatives, and friends. I never understood how my deaths were going to enjoy my flowers and my presence in the cemetery. The same goes for the confection of altars that are a strong tradition that motivates the ornamentation of house altars with flowers, candies, candles, pictures, sugar skulls, food, and religious paraphernalia.
But last year, my feeling about the celebration changed. Poncho, my son, put two tables in the living room, covered them with a lace tablecloth. He arranged to put several levels so it looked like the steps of a stair. In each step, he put photos of our family deaths including one of Maria, my dear wife who passed away 2 years ago and several photos of dead people of Sasha’s family.
All the space was covered by flowers, candles, and the usual.
The big difference was when it was the second before dinner, Sasha (daughter-in-law) lit the candles and turned off the lights, she invited us to make a semicircle around the altar and took Sophia (my granddaughter) into her arms. She explained to her how we are a family thanks to those who died and took care of us, and how they are not dead, but are alive in our hearts. Sofia smiled and said: “Thank you Grandma Maria. I love you and you are with me in my head.”