![]() ![]() The unimaginable-as I placed each piece, I thought of how very much like this expresses where we find ourselves in life right now around the world. Never did the great-grandparents and grandparents that I honor imagine a Día de los Muertos altar. So many historic heritage languages and cultures fill the altar. The worlds, each with a distinct culture, come together to create the mosaic of the whole.Īs I place the flowers for my German Lutheran grandparents, Grandpa Wink and Grandma Anna, I hear my Grandpa Wink saying the Lord’s Prayer in German to delight my cousins and I as children. Here on the altar, prairie and farmland come together with the Southwest German, Welsh, Irish, and English with Latino Protestant with Catholic past with present. My life is one of a fronterista, where worlds overlap: prairie and Southwest, rural and international, landscape literature and linguistic human rights. I am a woman of the borderlands, as used by Gloría Anzaldúa. The landscape of our altar reflects the landscape of my life. When my Grandma Mary embroidered Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, when my Great-Grandma Grace ground the coffee before dawn in the sod hut on the ranch, never could they have imaged these pieces where they are now. Mom’s hope chest creates the foundation for the altar. So many new souls honored on the altar by Latinos in the US and throughout Mexico. Composing the altar this year felt especially sacred amidst the pandemic and so many people lost. Día de los Muertos is an integral element in our family’s life rhythms. ![]() I first learned of this tradition when I fell in love with Frida Kahlo in my early 20’s. In Latino tradition, Día de los Muertos honors our loved ones who have passed with altars laden with flowers, photos, and candles. Día de los Muertos, All Soul’s Day, November 1st. ![]()
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