CANYON COUNTY, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
Many have been busy wrapping up spooky season with Halloween tricks and treats. Meanwhile, a portion of the Treasure Valley’s population is preparing for a more contemplative holiday.
Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, falls on Nov. 1-2 this year and is being celebrated by Canyon County’s Hispanic residents.
Cruz Arreola is the director of Mariachi Cantares de Mexico, a mariachi band consisting of youth players. The band has been playing at events in Canyon County for approximately a decade and at Día de los Muertos events every year.
“The mariachi is part of the culture from Mexico — tradition — and people want to remember their family with music,” Arreola said.
The band is currently in the midst of preparation for upcoming performances, with some kids at Wednesday evening’s practice in their full ensembles and face paint.
The colorful holiday serves as a time for remembering and celebrating the lives of the deceased. It can be a delicate balance of joy and mourning.
“It’s kind of both,” Arreola said. “It’s sad because they’re not with us anymore, but happy because we will remember them (as) when they were still alive.”
Arreola’s fondest memory of the holiday growing up was enjoying the treats his mom would bake.
“In Mexico, we used to do a little altar and then their favorite food or snack, we just kind of leave it there for the whole day,” Arreola said.
Marifer Avila, dance instructor for Ballet Folklorico Yareth de Idaho, said her group and others at the Idaho Hispanic Community Center have been working on an altar. Día de los Muertos altars typically include ofrendas, or offerings, with the deceased’s preferences in mind.
Pan de muerto and other Mexican sweet breads are traditionally placed at gravesites and altars, along with the deceased’s favorite foods. Avila said her family always offers candies and toys for two children they lost.
“It’s just to honor our dead family members who passed away,” she said. “Everyone celebrates it a little bit different.”
Avila recalled her mom’s description of celebrating Día de los Muertos when most of her family was still in Cherán, Mexico.
“They go to this cemetery, you go in the canoes, you go into the graveyard, you decorate (the gravesite),” Avila said.
In the past, families would celebrate all of the deceased at once. Nowadays, Avila said it is becoming more common for people to celebrate deceased grandparents, parents and pets on separate days.
At the cemetery, Avila describes a scene with priests blessing the deceased, families placing food on graves and mariachis singing.
Traditionally, Avila said that dancing isn’t associated with Día de los Muertos, as it isn’t appropriate.
“It’s disrespectful to dance on top of a tombstone,” she said. “But there is mariachi, because they could walk around and sing to the family members.”
Ballet Folklorico Yareth does participate in other Día de los Muertos events. During this time of the year, Avila’s group enjoys performing La Bruja dance where each dancer performs with a candle balanced on their head.
“It just gives more of an autumn feeling because the lights are moving, there’s a candle on your head,” Avila said. “... It is like my favorite song, the choreography, the candle that has to be lit, and then how we blow the candle at the end.”
Aligned with their mission, Alsip & Persons Funeral Chapel in Nampa will be hosting its first-ever Día de los Muertos event.
Administrative assistant Sarah Thomson’s heritage and her children’s previous education at a Spanish immersion school inspired the event. She came up with the idea after recognizing the correlation between the work they do and the holiday’s purpose.
“It’s a space specifically designed to honor the deceased,” Thomson said about the chapel.
Attendees can bring photos and offerings for a community altar. Children are welcome at the family-friendly event.
Funeral director and husband Clarke Thomson said that the chapel has been looking to host more community-focused events.
“Our goal is to help any family, any person, regardless of culture,” he said.
Participants can leave remembrances, paint skulls and make paper marigolds. Marigolds are associated with Día de los Muertos as the bright orange flowers are believed to attract the souls of the dead to the ofrendas.
“We are here to help the community heal and breathe,” Sarah Thomson said.
Offerings and reflection
Alsip & Persons Funeral Chapel — Nampa
On Nov. 1 from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. and Nov. 2 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Alsip & Persons Funeral Chapel will be open to visitors.
Participants can bring photos of their loved ones and ofrendas to add to a communal alter. Families are welcome to join in decorating sugar skulls, making papel picado, and other decorations.
Día de los Muertos at The Palace — Caldwell
MoFi and Key Bank’s celebration will be taking place at The Palace on Friday evening from 6-11 p.m.
The event will include local vendors, a lowrider car show and an 8 p.m. Catrina/Catrín costume contest. Ballet Folklorico Yareth will be performing at 8:15 p.m. Live entertainment will include a DJ and dancing beginning at 9 p.m.
The Nocturno Lounge will be hosting an event inspired by Disney’s ‘Coco’ all Saturday evening at 353 N. Ave. E.
Enrique’s Mexican Restaurant and other vendors will be there from noon to 10 p.m.
Singer María Paula will perform at 7:30 p.m. followed by Ballet Folklorico Yareth at 8 p.m. and a kids’ Catrina/Catrín costume contest at 9 p.m.
Nocturno Lounge’s happy hour will run from 6-9 p.m.
Sinfonia de Los Muertos — Boise
The Serenata Orchestra puts on free concerts and will be playing at South Junior High, 3101 Cassia St., on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The orchestra will play music by Mexican composers, dead composers, and more. While the concert is free, donations are recommended.
Fiesta de los Muertos — Nampa
The Tlecoatl Danza Azteca will be hosting a Saturday celebration at the Idaho Hispanic Community Center, 315 Stampede Drive.
From 10 a.m.-3 p.m. the event is free to the community with guest speakers, live performances from local artists and a community altar.
The event will also include giveaways, vendors and a DJ. Paid entry for the main event begins at 6 p.m. with swag bags, dinner and free costume contest sign up.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
