She was previously a weekly columnist for. Is currently the racial justice editor at YES! Media and a writing fellow with Independent Media Institute. View a photo essay from the 2021 Noche de Ofrenda in Grand Park, Los Angeles, where Esparza set up her annual large-scale community altar. And all the other ancestors are there because they’re all together. Maybe there’s somebody that recently passed that you want to honor this year and so they have the higher position on the altar. We’ve made all the levels with shelves and boxes and covered them with fabric. Once that arch is up, it’s like, now we can do everything else because it is the first thing that goes up. And meanwhile we’re sharing stories or having coffee and pan dulce, or wine, or tequila depending on who’s present and what stories we’re sharing.Īnd those flowers are part of the arch that is on the ofrenda. It has this familiar sound from moving this tissue paper. It’s almost therapeutic, mediative, because you’re cutting paper and manipulating it. Rosanna Esparza Ahrens: I remember the flower-making. Kolhatkar: Rosanna, what is it like to learn the tradition of altar-making from your mother? Can you share some experiences of making altars? Watch a video of Ofelia Esparza explaining the essentials of altar making: You need a glass of water on the altar because the souls came from so far away, they were going to be very thirsty. We use copal, which is a natural incense that is traditionally used since ancient times. In addition to wind, candles also represent fire.Īnd incense is also a representation of fire. The handcrafted or handmade items, including food, are part of your essence that you’re offering to this altar, to your ancestors. It’s an offering to our loved ones, our ancestors. Ofrenda means offering and sometimes I use the words altar and ofrenda interchangeably. Something handmade for the ofrenda is your offering. Also, in ancient times it represented the sun, which was the major element of the deities. The marigold has a strong aroma, which beckons the soul,, ‘Here is your altar.’ The scent draws them to the altar. They create the ambiance for the soul to come and partake of the altar that we have prepared for them.Īlso, candles are part of the wind element. In Mexico, and today here in the U.S., people are using papel picado. The papel picado are the cut paper banners that are made out of tissue paper that represent wind. Kolhatkar: Besides photographs of ancestors, are there any other elements to an altar that you feel are essential?Įsparza: I have to represent the four natural elements-that goes back to Indigenous culture-and that’s wind, earth, fire, and water. Read about how Chicano artists like Esparza helped promote the modern-day version of Día de los Muertos and how they are fighting against hyper-commercialization of the tradition.Īt the community altar, Ofelia Esparza (foreground) is burning copal, which is incense used for special ceremonies. To me those are the main pieces because the photographs are what generate the stories, and then the actual images of ancestors that you might not have known in person but that you know were part of your background. My mother always had an altar with photographs. There are so many ways of celebrating Día de los Muertos in Mexico, which of course has come over with the immigration of people into the United States, that I don’t say, ‘This is the way it has to be.’ The way that I do it is based on my mother’s tradition. It’s become such an art form that many artists do representations of these elements, not necessarily the items themselves. Over the years I’ve learned of different traditions, so I can’t really say what is the prototype for an altar, but the elements that I feel are important are the photographs, the candles, the flowers, of course, the food, incense, and papel picado. When we create an altar, we’re creating sacred space. Ofelia Esparza: Altares or ofrendas are a bridge between life and death, between the living and the dead. Sonali Kolhatkar: Is there a standard method of altar-making among Mexican Americans or is it an evolving art? It contains the basics elements of a Día altar: marigolds, tissue flowers (to represent marigolds), candles, and photos of passed loved ones. This is the large community altar that Ofelia created for Grand Park.
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