The Institute honored the holiday with a special event that connected participants with the tradition’s customs and cuisine.
On Wednesday, November 6, 2024, Chairmen’s Hall on the Sanford Burnham Prebys campus was transformed by the sights, smells and sounds of Día de los Muertos.
As attendees snacked on sweet breads and sipped Mexican hot chocolate and spiced coffee, they were encouraged to learn more about the holiday through a gallery exhibit featuring posters discussing the tradition’s origin and symbolism.
Día de los Muertos is held on November 1 and 2 each year. It provides an opportunity for families and communities to ceremonially welcome back the souls of deceased loved ones for a reunion. Central to the holiday are altars called ofrendas, or “offerings,” that include personal mementos and symbolic items meant to help guide back the souls of family members. Some symbols also highlight the celebration’s focus on enjoying the sweetness of life even while recognizing the inevitability of death.
The Día de los Muertos event at Sanford Burnham Prebys featured an ofrenda that was constructed through community participation. In the weeks prior, attendees were able to attend two arts and crafts sessions to make wooden sugar skulls and decorate picture frames for the ofrenda.
Images courtesy of Sara Sandoval
In addition to the gallery exhibit and ofrenda, the event included traditional decorations such as colorful papel picado, a traditional Mexican craft made from perforated tissue paper, which was hung like streamers, as well as monarch butterflies that migrate through Mexico during the holiday and represent the returning souls of ancestors. A playlist of traditional Mexican folk music accentuated the crafts and cuisine, which included family recipes shared in a potluck meal.
This event was a continuation of the Holidays Around the World series at Sanford Burnham Prebys. This series is planned by volunteers from labs and departments across campus, the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Council and DEIB program manager, Lauren Mitchell, MS, to bring the Sanford Burnham Prebys community together to learn more about the many cultures represented within the institute’s faculty, staff and trainees.
More information on the holiday can be found on the website for The Mexican Museum in San Francisco.
Images courtesy of Sara Sandoval.