Traditional Dia de los Muertos back in downtown Missoula
Missoula's Latino community has spent the past couple days preparing a traditional Dia de los Muertos celebration.
For the second year in a row, a space in the alleyway behind the Confluence Center on West Main Street has been transformed with an ofrenda, or altar, featuring Mexican and Colombian food and other staples of the annual holiday that takes place throughout the U.S. and Latin America.
"In our culture, death is not something that is feared. It's something that's very openly talked about, because it's a cycle that everybody's gonna go through. It's a natural cycle for all humans, for all plants, for all animals. So we embrace it," said Marilyn Gomez, one of the volunteer organizers.
The first two days of November are a time for families to celebrate, reminisce and tell stories, said Gomez, a first-generation Mexican American whose parents are from Oaxaca. For instance, you might not have known your great-grandparents, but through stories passed down you form a bond with them and maintain your roots.
They estimate 300 or 400 people came last year and expect even more based on how many have reached out and inquired, according to Mynor Alejandro Veliz, the chief financial officer of the Headwaters Foundation, parent organization of the Confluence Center. The nonprofit is hosting the event and opening up its commercial kitchen for the food preparation.
Last year was "amazing," said Veliz, who is Guatemalan. "We got a lot of positive feedback. I think a lot of people were sad that they didn't know and found out later," he said.
Some families and groups who had hard feelings about the Missoula Festival of the Dead and its annual multicultural parade set up their own events, and this year are joining the one at Confluence.
"Now we understand that the parade is one thing and we are able to have a traditional Mexican altar that represents our culture and then we can share that with the Missoula community," he said, adding that food, along with music and art are the best ways to build bridges.
Since she moved here six years ago, Gomez has celebrated with a home altar. She got involved last year to help bring a traditional celebration to the city and will be serving food from her La Catrina Marigold business.
This year, Gomez said their volunteers hail from Mexico, Honduras, folks from Cuban descent and more. The holiday, which has Indigenous Mexican roots, is celebrated differently in each region.
"We're welcoming everybody to teach us their ways and tell them to learn about our ways and embrace it and respectfully help us celebrate," she said.
Saturday, Nov. 2, 3-11 p.m.
In the alley behind the Confluence Center, 119 W. Main St.
The centerpiece is a multi-tiered ofrenda (or altar), which bears candles, copal (tree resin incense), handmade sugar skulls and La Catrinas (or skeleton figures), and more. Community members are welcome to contribute their own small items in memory of loved ones, including 5-by-7-inch photographs. (There are labels available so they can be picked up afterward.) Already, the shelves bore plates of tamales, photographs of the deceased, and more.
In front of the altar, they arranged a tapete — or a pathway of sawdust — adorned with skulls the volunteers made with homeschool classes from the Zootown Arts Community Center. (Take note of the sign at the entry: Do not walk on the tapete.)
The major contributors to the altar are local family: Nelly Perez Gomez, who's originally from Michoacán, Mexico, and her grown sons, Alex Vega and Jose Ramón Villegas Perez.
Gomez, Nelly and Ramón also walked the kids' classes through all the components, including the color palette, which has brightened the otherwise drab alley significantly.
They taught the students the meanings behind each color, Gomez said. Green represents growth and the cycle of life, yellow is "the connection to the sun, saying that we're all equal under the sunlight," she said. Blue signifies water, red is life and blood. White is hope, which is why the altar has a special all-white section with small toys for children who've died.
On Saturday, there will be food: Gomez has prepared pozole and hundreds of tamales. Monica Pipal of the Deli Arepa food truck will be offering up arepas from her home country of Colombia. There will be agua fresca, and for adults, the Rhino Bar is catering a bar.
The tapete is occupied by bright skulls and skeletons formed from colored sawdust, watched over by a series of figures of La Catrina, human-sized skeleton figures clad in high-class clothing, constructed from papier mache. Gomez said their fancy garb reminds us that "social status, riches, wealth doesn't matter, because we're all buried in the same dirt."
The altar is decorated with traditional marigolds, or cempazuchitl, which represent "life's brevity and regeneration" and whose orange color is associated with life, according to the Dia de los Muertos guides they made. As part of the educational mission, they have posters that will be displayed to explain the various elements for newcomers.
Gomez said Bitterroot Flower Shop special-ordered the marigolds from Washington because the flower is too sensitive to the cold to be cultivated locally.
While there were no safety issues last time, they've hired some security, Veliz said. They felt they had to because of the heightened rhetoric against immigrants this election year and they wanted attendees to feel secure.
A new feature this year is an installation vigil space out back where they can do so.
It's set up by local artists Natalita and Das. Last year, they organized their own Dia de los Muertos celebration at Suite Two and opted to join up with the folks downtown.
"We created a space where anyone who might need to have a moment with themselves, with the darkness, with spirit, to mourn or grieve or celebrate in their solitude. They can enter the vigil and do so," she said.
It's titled, "Para sus Lagrimas," which translates to "For Your Tears."
Arts and Entertainment Reporter
