Taos, NM Community Encouraged to Add to YART's De Los Muertos Altar

Taos's YART is displaying a Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) altar, and invites the community to contribute to as a way of remembering and honoring their beloved dead. Children attending a five-week Día de los Muertos workshop at YART will be adding to the altar as well. The Taos community is invited to bring pictures, mementos, poems, candles, or other items that evoke remembrances of their loved ones who have passed. Taos can celebrate and remember the lives of their beloved as a community.

YART will set up the altar in a place of honor in their hacienda, with 4 candles prominently placed in the four cardinal directions, and the community is encouraged to light additional candles for their loves ones, to represent faith, hope, and love. YART will also include the symbolic water and salt for purification, water for the quenching of spirits' thirst, salt to season the food, and bread to represent the sustenance needed to survive. .

Día de los Muertos is celebrated across the world, typically on November 1 and 2. Like the pagan Samhain which is celebrated on October 31 (Halloween), and other similar holidays in Africa and Asia, Día de los Muertos is a joyful celebration with a focus on honoring and celebrating the lives and afterlives of our beloved dead. It is not a morbid ritual or a time for grief, but rather a traditional uplifting time to celebrate the continuation of life; Taos's roots are rich with this tradition.

Those without personal effects to share are welcome to bring general symbols of the holiday, the most popular of which are skulls (las caliveras) and marigolds. Skulls are often evident in the shapes of candies or breads, and the skull shape is a symbols of the celebration of death. The marigold, the most traditional flower of the season, represents the sun, light, hope and joy of rebirth.

YART is located at 1325 Merchant Road in Taos-- look for the growing dome and flying flags behind the Taos Women's Health Institute, on Merchant Road, just east of Gusdorf.. For more information call YART at 505-737-YART, email yart@taosgardenstyle.com or visit YART online at www.taosgardenstyle.com. The friendly folks at YART will welcome you warmly and show you the honored altar, helping you in your celebration in any way you need. Please come celebrate this rich cultural holiday with your community and your ancestors.