There seemed to be fewer Day of the Dead altars this year in Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles. While they varied from massive works of art by professional artists to intimate memorial altars created by a family member, they all had one thing in common: masses of orange and yellow marigolds.
Marigolds became part of this tradition because their vibrant colors were considered to be a signal–a signpost–to the dead of where to return to visit family members at the cemetery on November 1st, All Saints Day. This ancient festival in Mayan culture pre-dates the arrival of Europeans in Mexico. The timing of November 1st was a compromise between the old ways and the “new”.
Lives beginning and lives ended. Children play in the water fountain while a few feet away are floating altars in memory of the dead. The children are oblivious! Fun in the sun on a hot Sunday in October is all they care about. The yellow floating altar that reads “Natalie” actually includes a photo of Natalie Wood. The “lady” in the boat is La Calavera Catrina.
I am breaking up the photos I took into three parts. This is part two. See the previous Political Day of the Dead altars including one very surprising altar for non-Christians. And in the Third Part I’ll show you close-ups of what is actually included on the altars.
Meanwhile you can see photos of Dia de los Muertos at historic Olvera Street on this site.
The altars will remain in Grand Park until November 4th, 2018. There are many more than I am showing here.
This altar in memory of a grandmother, an abuelita, is very traditional family altar. It’s decorated with cut paper panels, marigolds, of course, as well as sugar skulls and pumpkins. At the top of her altar are two La Calavera Caterina figures.
These are some of the things that abuelita loved: knitting, black beans in a brown pot, her family, maybe the Mexican lottery? There is a horse pinata on the left as well as a banana and orange and even a mango on the right side of this altar. The yellow paper heart reads Rest in Peace in Spanish. Overall this is a very personal altar.
Grand altar by professional artists
This grand altar was created by artists who are affiliated with Self-Help Gallery. Self-Help is a gallery and serigraph studio founded decades ago by the late Sister Karen to offer a venue for the works of local Latino/Mexican-American/Chicano artists who were excluded from the art world in Los Angeles back in the 1980s and 1990s.
The two headed serpent is a powerful deity in Mayan culture and a creature that bridges death and life. This representation by Heriberto Luna is part of the Self-Help Gallery altar.
Eric Scuds, an artist affiliated with Self-Help Gallery, painted this skull as part of the massive art installation in the plaza at the top of Grand Park. Surrounding the skull are corn husks used in tamales.
In the past there have been altars in memory of people killed in auto accidents, but this year the only one I noticed was one for motorcyclists. See the next image for a close-up of what is on this family altar.
Miniature motorcycles were added to this altar memorializing the death of 2 cyclists. Notice that the RIP stands for Ride in Peace. (There will be more details from the altars in Part 3 of this series.)
Obviously the work of a professional artist, this “altar” struck me at first as a bride. Then I noticed the “halo” around her head. So maybe a saint? Then there is the skeleton on the sidewalk in front of the figure. Now I am not sure what or who this represents. The Los Angeles City Hall is behind this figure.
An altar for a baby. Those yellow pieces of paper are notes written by visitors in memory of their own dead children. It’s such a beautiful altar but so very sad.
During October it is not at all unusual to see people, especially young girls, walking around the city with their faces half painted with skulls and with flowers in their hair. Sadly, this young girl is now a memory, but a beautiful one. I will show a close-up of the ceramic figure at the top in Part 3 of this series.
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