CLEVELAND — A decades-long tradition from Guanajuato, Mexico is now returning to the Pivot Center for Art, Dance & Expression to celebrate Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
El Tapete de la Muerte/ Carpet of Death
Artistic Director Hector Castellanos Lara is leading workshops to assemble a grand “tapete de muerte,” or, “carpet of death,” made of sawdust, sand and other natural materials. He said sawdust rugs are a Holy Week tradition in several Latin American countries but was transformed into a Day of the Dead tradition by a group University of Guanajuato students in 2008.
The tradition grew in popularity and was adopted by the Pivot Art Center in 2022, and has returned each year since, Castellanos Lara said.
“We start making classes [on] how to apply the sawdust and the colored sand to tiles that are made of foam board,” he said. “And, parents and grandparents and children, they come and they’re making their own.”
He said each student makes decorates an individual tiles that are placed around a central image, altogether forming a larger art. He said, the carpets will remain on display until the center’s Day of the Dead celebration on Sunday.
“La Catrina” is a skeletal figure that’s become a national symbol for Day of the Dead in Mexico. (Spectrum News 1/Tanya Velazquez)
“The ceremony will end with the Catrina [who] will walk over the tapete de la muerte and everything will be moved around. All this, all those colors… those will be all over,” Catellanos Lara said.
Ofrendas/ Altars
The Pivot Arts Center is also inviting members of the community to participate in a more common Day of the Dead tradition: building altars. These displays also known as “ofrendas,” hold offerings meant to invite the spirits of loved ones.
Frances Araujo is one of several families invited by the Comité Mexicano de Cleveland to construct one of these altars.
Day of the Dead ofrendas often showcase a mix of indigenous and Spanish histories, commonly featuring items like a “copal” – used in ceremonies as incense – and religious crosses. (Spectrum News 1/Tanya Velazquez)
“Despite the pain that the death of a loved one can cause us, we also take it with joy and remember it with with affection,” she said.
Day of the Dead altars typically showcase which often include, photos of deceased loved ones, bread of the dead, flowers and other symbolic objects, Araujo said.
“We put candles, which is for them to walk toward the light,” she said. “We put the water to them, so they aren’t thirsty on the way. … Also the food that they liked or their favorite.”
The holiday’s history
Ancestral elements also hold an important space on the altar, said Lucia Gutierrez, who is an indigenous, Purépecha medicine woman and biochemical engineer.
Gutierrez grew up in Michoacán, Mexico, where she said the holiday spans longer than two days and is known by a different name.
“So we actually don’t call it Noche de Muertos.’ We call it ‘Noche de las Ánimas,’ which can be translated to ‘Return of the Souls.’ But it’s actually like weeks for that celebration,” Gutierrez said.
A growing number of people celebrate Day of the Dead each year, she said, but it’s important to recognize its indigenous roots.
Lucia Gutierrez shared her homeland’s traditions with other community members at the Young Latino Network’s
“For a lot of indigenous people … in order to preserve traditions, we have to mix our tradition with religion, or different things that now we are used to,” she said. “Before that, there were elements that were part of our daily life, like the use of ‘copal’, or the use of salt, or the use of fire.”
While Día de los Muertos traditions can vary, Castellanos Lara said, all represent the celebration of life.
“It’s important because that’s the only way we can transmit those to our children,” Castellanos Lara said. “And the new generation that will continue these beautiful events and traditions annually.”
Tanya Velazquez
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