I was invited to participate as a guest artist in Santa Barbara City College’s 20th anniversary of the Days of the Dead. For this special occasion, I displayed an altar and gave lectures about the celebration to students and teachers in the foreign languages department. In my lectures, I talked about rituals for honoring the deceased in Mexico as well as in other cultures such as Japan’s O-bon festival, the Hungry Ghosts festival in China, Dia de Muertos y Ancestros in Bolivia and Chuseok in South Korea.
In my altar display I included paper and cardboard items such as fake money, a car, even a paper laptop (!) and new clothing, items which are presented and burned in a Chinese ritual to ensure ancestors have proper items for the afterlife. I found most of these lovely paper items in Chinatown, Los Angeles. I also painted a replica of a portable altar, used only in Korea, to worship ancestors and painted a hanging scroll, called Kammoyoche-do, depicting an ancestral shrine.
Every culture has unique ways to honor its ancestors, and many have special funerary vessels made of clay or porcelain or other symbolic materials. In the U.S., for example, the Pomo Indians often throw fine hand-woven baskets into fires as part of the Feasts of the Dead ceremonies. Although I specialize in the Mexican way of celebrating the Day of the Dead, I am fascinated by the ways in which other cultures honor the spirits of those who have passed away, and there are certainly many.
Every year I set up an altar at home to honor friends and relatives who have passed away. This year, we set up a special altar to honor all men and women who took their own lives as a result of the impact of the war.
We also honored the spirits of dear friends and artists such as John Norton, Otto Heino, Sam Maloof, Haane Sonquist and Susan Peterson, who are no longer with us but whose great spirits and creative gifts we continue to enjoy.
Our home altar has always been a communal effort to pay respect to loved ones and we always welcome our friends’ participation in this important and beautiful event.
Below are some photos from my displays and my home altars.
