Reno celebrates Dia de los Muertos every year by holding many different events around the city to honor loved ones who have passed.
People are excited to share their love for this tradition. Claudia Grady, a credit union sponsor for the festival held on East Pueblo street, explained why she chose to celebrate with the community,
“It's important for us and immigrants to continue with our traditions. And also, if you want to be bicultural and if other cultures join, why not? It's a beautiful meaning,” she said.
Another sponsor for this same event with Movement Mortgage, Veronica Rodriguez, elaborated on why she thinks this tradition should be celebrated with the community in Reno.
“Bringing a little bit of home to those that are far away, and then knowing that those that have left can still come back to us,” she said.
The Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated specifically in Mexico, but in other Latin countries as well, where people honor their ancestors, friends, family, and pets who are no longer with us.
A huge part of this tradition is the ofredna or altar that is set up with pictures, marigolds, incense, salt, candles, sugar skulls, papel picado, food including pan de muerto and drinks, along with other personal objects.
Each item on the altar serves a unique purpose in helping spirits make the journey to visit.
The marigolds or “flower of the dead” have a strong scent that attracts souls back home and are often paired with incense.
Salt is laid out in a cross pattern to help keep the soul intact and uncorrupted as they make the journey.
Papel picado is colorful cut tissue paper symbolizing the fragility of life and allows for souls to travel through the holes and visit.
Pan de Muerto is a soft sweet bread dusted with sugar and designed into a skull shape for hungry souls to enjoy.
A glass of water is placed on the table to quench their thirst after the long journey.
The altar is a way to remember those who have passed on.
Osvaldo Jimeneze, teacher and someone the Hispanic and LatinX student community looks up to at the University of Nevada Reno talked about how he began celebrating this holiday.
Osvaldo’s first experience with Dia de los Muertos was in his eighth grade Spanish class where they made an altar. This began a yearly tradition. Every year since then, his family creates an altar in their home. He said that over the years his family has collected many items to add to their altar.
“We already have our pieces too, it's all in a box that we have in the garage. So we just break it out and we already have everything kind of set up,” he said.
That family tradition has spilled over to his day job as the Director of Latinx/Hispanic Community Relations for UNR. Where he now leads the effort to create altars.
Students set up their altars in the university’s Knowledge Center breezeway. They included candles, skulls, pictures of family members and pets, and dog food as an offering.
Student Dianara Ortiz, a senior studying biology, brought a picture of her dog,
“Her name was Peanut. I also brought some treats and snacks and stuff that we are going to be adding. And then I also made some flowers and things like that for the table,” she said.
Ortiz creatively made flowers out of tissue paper to look like marigolds.
The Dia de los Muertos celebration event at the university, Jimeneze said, is a lot more fun than the way his family celebrates. UNR has two mariachi bands, Aztec dancers, and food vendors.
“We are just more traditional in a sense that we’re honoring our loved ones, we’re praying on that side,” Osvaldo said.
He said his family wears rosaries and prays in a specific way throughout the day. Osvaldo’s most favorite part about this holiday is seeing the community and all six of his siblings come together as a family.
“It’s like when you are trying to move a desk, right? Everyone lifts up a corner and then they’re able to move it a lot easier. It’s just beautiful to see the community come in,” he said.
He also likes the traditional food his family makes and all the vibrant colors.
But most of all, he sees this celebration as a sort of time machine to connect with his grandparents and his family.
“In a way you do feel more connected because maybe we have the altar. You see pictures every single day,” he said.
The Dia de los Muertos free community event at UNR is on Sunday Nov. 3 from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Joe Crowley building.
