Celebrando Día de los Muertos 2022

Last Friday, Latino Network staff and Latinx community members gathered at our Rockwood Campus to celebrate this year’s Día de los Muertos. Staff and their families came together to learn and honor this tradition and its significance in Mexican and Central American culture. 

Día de Muertos or Día de los Muertos is a multi-day holiday most commonly celebrated in Mexico that involves gathering to pay respects and to remember friends and family members who have passed. Traditions connected with this vibrant holiday include honoring the deceased by building home altars called ofrendas with the favorite foods and drinks of the departed, decorating with skulls and Aztec marigold flowers (cempazúchitl), and visiting loved ones’ graves with gifts.

Certain foods are traditional to the holiday, such as candy sugar skulls (calaveras), sweet rolls (pan de muerto, or “bread of the dead”), tamales, hibiscus tea, and a thick sweet corn flour beverage called champurrado. Each Mexican region and town often has its own unique traditions, and diaspora from these regions often carry with them those traditions.

This holiday is a time to think about the cyclical nature of life and the everlasting presence of loved ones who have passed on in our lives. As long as we remember them and honor their memories, their spirits live through every single one of us and the actions we take every day.

This is how you can celebrate Día de los Muertos in Oregon:

Día de los Muertos at Portland Marketplace

Día de los Muertos Festival at Milagro Theatre

Día de los Muertos Beaverton at Conestoga Recreational Center