In the largest Day of the Dead celebration in Southern Utah, the Southern Utah Museum of Art will be hosting art workshops, music and dance performances, free food and more from Friday, Oct. 31 to Saturday, Nov. 1.
There will also be a community ofrenda where people will honor their loved ones who have passed through Nov. 1.
People made their own ofrendas on Thursday, Oct. 30 at SUMA and participated in other free activities like making bone bracelets and learning about monarch butterfly migration.
On Oct. 31, there will be 45-minute art activities and storytimes designed for preschool-age children and their parents at SUMA. Each group will also receive take-home art activities.
Finally, on Saturday, Nov. 1 from 1-3 p.m., there will be a music and dance cultural showcase in the SUU Auditorium. Attendees can get free pan de muerto and watch performances from Mariachi Fuego de Utah and Ballet Folkórico Herencia Hispana.
Día de los Muertos, or in English, Day of the Dead, is one of the most popular holidays in Mexico and is formally celebrated from Nov. 1 to Nov. 2 each year.
Though there are many variations of Day of the Dead traditions, it is common to clean and decorate graves, according to SUMA’s website. People build ofrendas, altars dedicated to loved ones, and honor the dead with calaveras, or sugar skulls, cempazúchitl, or aztec marigolds, and traditional foods and beverages.
Every SUMA Día de los Muertos event is free and open to the public. For more information, go to suu.edu/suma/dotd, or go to suu.edu/suma for information about the museum and upcoming events.
