Dia de los Muertos • El Paso and Southern New Mexico

Monday, October 12, 2020

CDC guidelines for Dia de los Muertos / Day of the Dead - 2020 - El Paso

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has released guideline for celebrating Dia de los Muertos this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We encourage everyone to take these guidelines seriously and do our best to protect our community.

CDC Guidelines for Dia de los Muertos - 2020

Tuesday, October 06, 2020

Dia de los Muertos in El Paso - 2020

Dia de los Muertos events in the El Paso and Las Cruces area are proving to be few and far between for 2020, for obvious reasons. If you are aware of any events, please feel free to forward them and I'll get them posted.

If there are no events in the area this year, please celebrate in the safety of your home.

Take time to honor those in our community lost to COVID-19. Remember the others we lost so suddenly on August 3, 2019. Let us also remember our loved ones, family, friends and so many others who have passed on over the years. While we may not be able to reminisce in person...we are all together in spirit.

"Voces de Mixquic" - a wonderful Dia de los Muertos documentary film

I recently viewed "Voces de Mixquic," a documentary about Dia de los Muertos traditions in a small town on the outskirts of Mexico City. I HIGHLY recommend this film. It is by far the most informative film I have seen about Dia de los Muertos. You truly feel like you are welcoming home departed loved ones with the families that are filmed.

"Voces de Mixquic" is available on Amazon, and is free to view with Amazon Prime. It is well worth the rental price, too.

Find the film here: Voces de Mixquic

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Dia de los Muertos altar for the victims of the August 3 Walmart shooting here in El Paso

This beautiful altar (ofrenda) is on display on the third floor of the UTEP Library. It honors the 22 victims of the August 3 Walmart mass shooting. Dia de los Muertos will be particularly poignant this year in El Paso.

Friday, October 25, 2019

El Paso Symphony Orchestra - Coco in Concert

Disney Pixar
COCO IN CONCERT
with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra

DATE: Saturday, November 2, 2019, 7:30pm
LOCATION: Plaza Theatre

Celebrate Dia de Los Muertos at the Plaza Theatre with Academy Award-winning animated film Coco in concert with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra performing Michael Giacchino’s beautiful score live to film. This heartwarming film follows aspiring young musician Miguel as he travels to the Land of the Dead.

Information & website

Dia de los Muertos - Art Celebrates Life - Border AIDS Partnership Spotlight

Border AIDS Partnership annual fundraiser featuring silent art auction work and skull decorating competition by noted artists

Where: El Paso Community Foundation Room, 33 N. Oregon St.

When: Saturday, November 2, 2019

Time: 6 p.m.-9 p.m.

Tickets: 20

Website: borderaidsep.org

Mesilla, New Mexico Dia de los Muertos events

DATE: November 2, 2019

LOCATION: La Mesilla Plaza, Mesilla, New Mexico

CONTACT: 575-639-1385

Altars, Day of the Dead artists, music, dancing, parade, food, activities for kids and arts vendors. Free to the public. Donation of non-perishable food items will be given to the Casa de Peregrinos Food Pantry.

Dia de Muertos Artfest - Deming, New Mexico

DATE: November 2, 2019

LOCATION: Historic Courthouse Park, Deming, New Mexico

Website: Dia de Muertos Art Fest hompage

Pan de Muerto, Copal, Mexican folk art, alebrijes, jewelry, Day of the Dead folk art, embroidery, incense, traditional Mexican dresses, religious items, face painting, traditional Mexican foods and beverages, sugar skull tattoos.

From I-10W: Take exit 82A from I-10 W. Turn Left on S Gold Avenue. Continue south, courthouse park is located on the corner of Gold and Ash Street.

From I-10E: Take exit 82A from I-10 W. Turn Right on S Gold Avenue. Continue south, the courthouse park is located on the corner of Gold and Ash Street.

Parking: Parking is available on Ash Street by the Holy Family Church. Additional parking is located on the south side of the Courthouse Park & the Family Dollar Parking lot.

Street Closure: Ash street from Gold Avenue to Platinum Avenue will be closed for the festival.

Sixth Annual Dia de Muertos Celebration - Lincoln, New Mexico

Sixth Annual Dia de Muertos Celebration - Lincoln, New Mexico

DATE: November 2, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
LOCATION: Lincoln, New Mexico
Calle La Placita (12 miles east of Capitan, New Mexico) on Highway 380

Hosted by the Friends of Historic Lincoln and the Lincoln Merchants Association.

UTEP Library Dia de los Muertos Altar

DATES: Monday, October 28 - Friday, November 8
LOCATION: UTEP Library, 3rd Floor Gallery
HOURS: Regular Library Hours
CONTACT: 747-5697

Concordia Cemetery Diá de los Muertos Festival

DATE: November 2
TIME: 2-8 PM
LOCATION: 3700 Yandell Drive
TICKETS: $5

Website: Concordia Cemetery Dia de los Muertos Festival Facebook page

Resurrection Ball

Resurrection Ball

Location: Club Here I Love You, 115 S. Durango St.
Date: November 1, 2019
Time: 8 PM November 1 to 10 AM November 2
Admission: $15 + fees

Website: Resurrection Ball Facebook Page

DJ Amanda Jones, from Los Angeles, will lead the Resurrection Ball. Live art, face painting, drum circle, dancers, altar, food trucks and more. Wear your best Dia de los Muertos attire. Tickets availablle through eventbrite.com, Red Door Vintage, 2225 Montana, and The Headstand, 4409 Dyer.

La Fe Dia de los Muertos

Date: November 1, 2019
Time: 5:30 p.m.

Venue: 721 S. Ochoa (Rear Building)

Admission: Free

La Fe Día de los Muertos: Join Centro De Salud Familiar La Fe for an evening of dance, music, a community altar display and cultural arts.

Dia de los Muertos - Downtown El Paso

Dia de los Muertos Celebration

November 2, 2019
2 PM
One Arts Festival Plaza

Venue: El Paso Museum of Art

Admission: Free

Website: https://epma.art/calendar/dia-de-los-muertos-celebration-2019-11-02

Contact Name: El Paso Museum of Art

Phone: 915-212-0300
https://www.facebook.com/events/367207300872765/

The Downtown Arts District will host Dia de los Muertos on Saturday, November 2, from 2-9 p.m.

Last year, more than 10,000 people celebrated this regional tradition. Celebrate with free hands-on activities, music and artisan vendors located throughout the Arts District from the El Paso Museum of Art to the El Paso Museum of History. Celebrated artist collective from Mexico City, Colectivo Ultima Hora, will once again transform Dia de los Muertos with fantastical splendor and color. You won’t want to miss the Desfile de Alebrijes Parade up Santa Fe and the evening concerts in Arts Festival Plaza.

This year's cempasuchil

I planted my cempasuchil in a new location this year. While it wasn't as big a space, it did quite well, peaking the second and third week of October. Some grew over five feet tall!

Café Mayapan - Dia de los Muertos 2019 Events

Several great events coming to the annual Dia de los Muertos Festival at Café Mayapan!

https://www.facebook.com/CafeMayapan/

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

After Posada: Revolution

October 12, 2018 - January 20, 2019

Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Gallery

Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada (b. 1852 Aguascalientes, d. 1913 Mexico City) died three years into his country’s revolution, yet the thousands of satirical illustrations he left behind suggest he was always fighting injustice. After Posada: Revolution revolves around over one-hundred rarely seen Posada images as they circulated during his lifetime: in broadsheets, or popular single-page newspapers illustrating political commentary, crime stories, ballads about everyday life, and more. Featured are the printmaker’s beloved calaveras (skulls), as well as his fiercest works depicting moments from the Mexican Revolution, such as the exploits of leader Emiliano Zapata. The exhibition, drawn from the collection of Lineaus Hooper Lorette, recontextualizes Posada’s influential work, which is often presented through posthumously-produced stand-alone prints. Here the broadsheets are shown, alongside several seldom-seen small “chap” books and metal-faced wood printing blocks, photographs from the period by Agustín Víctor Casasola, and related archival material, including satirical political magazines Posada may have read. Further, After Posada illuminates the printmaker’s legacy through commissioned works by Andrea Bowers and Cruz Ortiz, contemporary artists who each have distinct relationships to Posada’s practice. While Bowers has produced large-scale prints of political figures in homage to Posada’s, for Ortiz the printmaker has served as a lifelong touchstone for his own activities inside and outside the studio. Both intergenerational and multi-media, After Posada: Revolution enlivens understandings of not only a seminal Mexican artist but also what it means to address social and political injustice in art, past and present.

EPMA - Posada

Fiesta de Muertos

November 3

2p - 4p

Calaveras, ofrendas, catrinas and marionettes take over the El Paso Museum of Art at this years’ Dia de Los Muertos festivities! Celebrated visiting artist collective from Mexico City, Colectivo Ultima Hora, will transform Dia de los Muertos at EPMA

Festivities continue with impressive ofrendas (altars) created by the El Paso Museum of Art and the Mexican Consulate inspired by the exhibition, After Posada: Revolution.

Join us and enjoy a variety of Day of the Dead activities, hands-on mask decorating and printmaking. Capture the best images of the first Noche de Calaveras procession with our photography workshop. Enjoy music, folkloric dance, food, pan de muerto, and much more! Day of the Dead costumes are encouraged!

https://epma.art/calendar/dia-de-los-muertos-fronterizo-2018-11-03-382

Dia de los Muertos - Centro Mayapan - 2018

Camino Real Ballet Folklorico "Celebration of Life"

Monday, September 24, 2018

2018 Dia de los Muertos events in the El Paso and Las Cruces area!

2018 Dia de los Muertos events in the El Paso and Las Cruces area! Email me if you'd like to add your event!

https://visitelpaso.com/places/dia-de-los-muertos

http://www.celebmtns.org/events/2018/celebrate-dia-de-los-muertos-at-concordia-cemetery

https://www.facebook.com/events/228881604439060/

https://epma.art/calendar/dia-de-los-muertos-fronterizo-2018-11-03-382

https://www.ticketfly.com/event/1763121-dia-de-los-muertos-green-el-paso/

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

2017 Dia de los Muertos events at Café Mayapan

I've been really bad about keeping up this blog over the last few years. Seems like the decline of blogs and rise of other social media have kind of made them a little bit more obsolete. Still, I will try to share what I find. Here's some information on the annual celebration at La Mujer Obrera/Café Mayapan...always a favorite here in El Paso!

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Dia de los Muertos events in El Paso this year...

I've been looking for Dia de los Muertos events here in El Paso this year, but it seems like there are fewer than usual, likely due to Halloween falling on Saturday. Here are ones that I could find, and I hope you will share with the page any additional ones.

October 30, 2015
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Dia de los Muertos Reception.
The El Paso Museum of Art and the Consulate General of Mexico, El Paso partner annually to present a Dia de los Muertos altar. The 2015 altar (designed by the Chihuahua artist Ernesto Pinedo) will honor Dimetrio Macias, the main character in the novel Los de Abajo, penned by Mariano Azulea in El Paso. The volume is regarded as one of the most iconic novels of the Mexican Revolution. The altar commemorates the 100 anniversary of its publication and celebrates the centenary birth of Demetrio Macias. Pan de Muertos and Chocolate Caliente will be served. The altar will be on view October 27 through November 1 , 2015 in the C2 Gallery. Admission is free.

October 31, 2015
3-10 p.m.
La Mujer Obrera / Centro Mayapan
2000 Texas Ave, El Paso, TX 79901

“Cosecha, Maiz y Mitote”
La Mujer Obrera, a local non-profit, women’s empowerment organization invites the community to celebrate Dia de los Muertos: Cosecha, Maiz y Mitote. Featuring live music, traditional foods and artisans. Featured performances include: Danza Azteca Omecoatl, Wise Latina International’s: Yo Soy Teatro, The Chamanas, Lucia Carmona, Danza Azteca Tlaneztica, Ceiba, Christina Gurrola, and Los Chamukos. The community is invited to participate in Calavera Poems, Altars, and Catrina Contest.

November 1, 2015
1-9 p.m.
2nd Annual Dia de los Muertos Catrina Festival & Electric Parade - San Elizario Historic District
Activites include catrina ballet folklorico, poetry & storytelling, calavera pistolero & horse show, catrina parade & catrina contest, catrina museum adventure, car show, strolling catrina musicians, charro calavera, vendors, altars, face painting, ghost tour, live music and more.

November 1, 2015
2-8 p.m.
The Concordia Cemetery Dia de los Muertos Festival in El Paso, Texas, is a cultural and spiritual celebration that takes place annually and commemorates the loved ones we have lost. The one-day engagement sees revelers dressed in vintage Mexican clothes complete with skulls painted on their faces, and there are also 10-foot mojigangas (dancing skeleton puppets), a scavenger hunt, live music, poetry readings, arts and crafts and ceremonial offerings.

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Dia de los Muertos events at Mercado Mayapan - El Paso - November 1, 2014

My daughter enjoying some pan de muerto

My cempasuchíl ("flor de muerto")

I've been growing cempasuchíl (Mexican marigolds; "flor de muerto") for about 10 years; all propogated year after year. I acquired seeds at a Dia de los Muertos event and have had good luck growing them. They are about three feet tall. I had a really good crop of them this year!

Mexican marigolds are not native to the El Paso area, as they require a quite a bit of water. But they are well worth trying to grow!