<strong style="text-decoration: underline;">Editor's Note</strong>
Thank you for visiting the KPBS digital community ofrenda and for sharing remembrances of loved ones who passed away. We hope this time has helped you celebrate, honor, and remember friends and family who are no longer with us.
While Día de Muertos is celebrated in different ways, the holiday typically concludes on Nov. 2, but the KPBS digital ofrenda will remain on our website for you to continue exploring and remembering your loved ones.
Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead is a popular tradition celebrated in Mexico, as well as many parts of Central America and the U.S. It's devoted to celebrating death, life and memories of the departed.
Its roots date back to before the arrival of the Spanish to the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/education/blog/beyond-sugar-skulls-the-history-and-culture-of-dia-de-los-muertos">Indigenous peoples</a> of Mexico, who held parties to help guide the departed to their resting places. It was also believed that the dead could return to the world of the living — at least temporarily.
It started with Indigenous rites, but was later influenced by Catholic rituals. It is observed by some beginning Oct. 28 for souls who suffered an accident, a tragedy or a violent death; Oct. 30 and 31 are dedicated to children who died and were not baptized; Nov. 1 is for the deaths of young children, and also known as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/11/02/561527322/mexicos-celebrated-d-a-de-los-muertos-evolves-in-the-u-s#:~:text=Day%20of%20the%20Dead%20is,on%20makeshift%20altars%20at%20home." target="_blank">All Saints’ Day; and Nov. 2 is All Souls’ Day</a> for all adults.
Ways to remember those no longer alive vary and can include holding gatherings, visiting cemeteries, decorating tombstones, writing poems, and creating an ofrenda, or an altar. According to Mexico’s Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry, <a href="https://www.gob.mx/agricultura/articulos/dia-de-muertos-la-fiesta-mas-emotiva-de-mexico" target="_blank">altars in Mexico</a> can include photos; food; skulls; pan de muerto, or bread of the dead, representing the cycle of life and death; candles believed to bring peace to lost souls; incense to purify the environment; and marigold flowers, also called cempasúchil, to help guide spirits to their altars and back to their places of rest.
This year KPBS is hosting a digital community ofrenda, or altar, where the community was able to submit a memory celebrating loved ones who have passed away. More than 100 family members or friends were submitted along with photos, videos and audio clips.
Thank you to all the community members who participated and are using KPBS' altar as a way to honor those they love.
Explore the altar below by clicking on each photo thumbnail.