Diaz created skeletons-each one or two feet tall-to symbolize the children, and lined them up in front of a life-sized skeleton figure of La Llorona, draped in a white dress and a long white veil with red trim.
In Diaz’s altar, the weeping mother represented the countries that fail to care for their children. The pieces of Diaz’s altar slowly began to come to life as she finished each piece.The golden skull was painted, the skeleton figures were complete, but she had not finished one of the main pieces of her altar-La Llorona.Īccording to the legend, La Llorana, the weeping woman, drowned her own children in a river and she can still be heard at night crying out for them.
“Kids do die on their way here,” she said. Countries including our own are killing their own children, abandoning and rejecting them,” said Diaz referring to the increasing number of immigrant kids from countries such as Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala who are fleeing violence and poverty. “My altar this year is about the children coming from South and Central America. I start to think about who it’s for, who it’s dedicated to.” “I start to think about my altar in July. “Day of the Dead means, to me, a day to honor our ancestors,” Diaz said. And at a community level, Diaz participates in Day of the Dead celebrations by creating large altars that feature both her artwork and several of the miniature ones made by her groups.Īs Diaz, a soft-spoken woman with short black hair, thick framed glasses and a magenta shirt, sat at her kitchen table next the freshly painted foam skull she finished for this year’s altar, she talked about why Dead of the Dead is meaningful to her. Through her work as a marriage and family therapist, Diaz works with people in grief groups to create miniature altarsas part of their grieving process. At home she keeps an altar all year round dedicated to her grandmother, from whom she believes she inherited her creative and artistic skills. During the annual Day of the Dead community celebrations in the Fruitvale District and at the Oakland Museum of California, local artists, such as Diaz, and members of nonprofit organizations created altars that focused on national and international political topics, including education, immigration, gun violence and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.ĭiaz, a therapist who minored in art in college, has woven the art of altar-making into several aspects of her life. “There’s the visual beauty of it, and admiring the beautiful objects, the colors, and the symbols.” But, she added, it’s important to remember that altars are created because a person has died.Ĭreating an altar can be a private ritual, but altars have also become a platform for people to express their views on social and political issues, especially those that involve death. “There’s different dimensions to an altar,” Diaz said. In Latin America, altars are built in cemeteries and gravesites are decorated with these elements as loved ones hold all-night vigils for the deceased. Marigolds are the signature flower for Day of the Dead, and they are meant to guide the spirits to the altars with their bright colors and scent. Other traditional elements of an altar include skeleton figures, sugar skulls, and a sweet offering called pan de muerto (Spanish for “bread for the dead”). The first of the month is dedicated to adults and the second to children. To prepare for their visit, family and friends create an altar, placing upon them pictures of the deceased, their favorite food and drinks, flowers, and candles as offerings for their return.
The vibrant figures have distinctive colors and patterns as well as a serious meaning: The skeletons represent the unaccompanied children who have died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in an attempt to flee the violence in their native Latin American countries.ĭia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead in English, is a Latin American tradition that commemorates the dead on November 1 and 2, when it is believed that the spirits of the deceased visit their loved ones.
For this year’s altar, Diaz meticulously handcrafted brightly colored paper maché skeleton figures. Every autumn for the last eight years, Alicia Diaz has created an altar for the annual Day of the Dead festival in Oakland’s Fruitvale District.
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