Honoring their ancestors through stories and art
Creations part of Día de los Muertos, a time to remember the departed
The concept of death is a lesson that many parents fear to tell their children. But the traditions of Día de los Muertos help families celebrate their ancestors through art and sharing stories about their favorite things.
Cheyenne Pacheco, 16, did just that when she made a shadow box display of pictures, stickers and bright decorations to remember her great-grandmother, who recently died.
“I chose her because she inspired me,” Cheyenne said.
In her shadow box was a cut-out photo of her greatgrandmother, Louise Reynolds, surrounded by hearts and butterflies on a pink backdrop.
Cheyenne spoke about how she and her great-grandmother both loved art, as well as the impact she had on her life.
Cheyenne was joined by several members of her family, including her brother, father and grandfather, at a workshop Saturday morning at Ho
locaust Museum Houston to create art for Día de los Muertos, a Mexican tradition to remember loved ones who have died by celebrating their lives.
Cheyenne “was interested, so I thought it would be really cool to bring everybody to the event so they can learn about their culture,” said Mark Pacheco, 60, her grandfather. “It’s very important.”
Cheyenne also spoke about her great-grandmother’s life and the kind of woman she was; about the fact that she had three sons, two of whom were in the military, her love for crafts and food, and how she served as a nurse for more than 50 years.
Reynolds passed away in June at age 91 of Alzheimer’s disease; she’d suffered from it for over two decades before her death, her family said.
Holocaust Museum Houston partnered with its Latinx Initiatives program to create an altar workshop open to the community in honor of Día de los Muertos.
“The museum is a site of remembrance and honoring individuals, so it really connects with the themes of Día de los Muertos, which is about honoring, remembering and celebrating our ancestors,” said Laurie Garcia, senior associate director of education at the museum. “So we’re really excited to be able to host a community altar workshop here because those themes are interconnected to each other.”
The workshop was led by Más Que Tres, meaning “more than three,” which describes itself as an organization of local Chicanas that holds events to celebrate the cultures, traditions and heritage of their community. The event was open to youth and families in the community, and it had around 40 attendees working on making their own flowers, skull masks and shadow boxes with a wide array of decorations to choose from.
“The point of the workshop is not only to connect with the community, but also so they can learn how to create these crafts themselves in their own homes,” said Jessica Izaguirre from Más Que Tres.
The organization is a collective of women who have been friends since college. Their sisterhood and shared culture inspired them to create an organization to create awareness of problems that face not only women, but also Chicano and Indigenous communities, members said.
“What we did today kind of aligns with what we do because we have done a lot of work around Día de los Muertos for many years,” said Samantha Rodriguez, a member of Más Que Tres. “This celebration could have a universal meaning to others as a way of connecting, so spaces to hold these events are super important.”
The group also discussed the difficult conversations about death that parents often have with children and how this celebration gives a new perspective on grief and how they can better remember their loved ones after they’re gone.
“I didn’t grow up with this,” said Tina Hernandez, another member of Más Que Tres. “And I wish I would have because to me this is a whole different take on life and death that you can learn from a young child; which is to celebrate life.”