Día de los Muertos

These hands-on workshops offer a fun and meaningful opportunity for families to explore creativity together while learning about rich cultural traditions. We look forward to welcoming you for a month of creativity, learning, and celebration! Blanka Amezkua is a Mexican-American contemporary artist, fusing and combining many diverse and seemingly disparate elements into bold, colorful art. Learn more about her work here.

Cempasúchil Dye Workshop
October 18; 1 to 3 p.m.

Cempasúchil flowers (Aztec or Mexican Marigold, Tagetes erecta) hold an important presence and traditional role during the Día de los Muertos celebrations across México. Known also as Flor de Muerto, they adorn our altars and guide our ancestors home during these celebratory days (and weeks!). The vibrancy of the celebration is attributed to the bright orange and yellow blossoms and their sweet, pungent aroma that draws you right in. Among the many medicinal uses of Cempasúchil, we too can use the petals as dye—giving life to textiles and fabrics even after the Día de los Muertos celebrations have ceased and our flowers have dried.

During this workshop participants will learn about Cempasúchil as a natural dye and will be guided through two processes: brewing a dye bath with dried or fresh flowers and pounding the petals to create Cempasúchil imprints on fabric. We’ll think about the power of color as a medicine in the winter season and how we can give a second life to our plant materials and natural fibers. Participants will leave with their own Cempasúchil-dyed or Cempasúchil-imprinted piece. All workshop materials will be provided and no prior natural dye experience is necessary to attend this offering.

• About the Instructor
  Jasmín Durán (she/they) is a clinical herbalist, community educator, urban grower, and care practitioner based in unceded Lenapehoking territory (NYC). Communing closely with plants, urban gardens, storytelling, and immigrant communities, their work is focused in the remembrance of ancestral healing practices, technologies, and traditions in the immigrant diaspora. Today you can find her facilitating herbal workshops, vending, and sharing in community under her herbal project, meztli medicinals.

Model Magic Alebrijes: An Ofrenda for Perro
October 31; 2 to 3 p.m.

Explore the Mexican tradition of honoring loved ones and pets through art and storytelling. Join us for storytime with the Bronx Children’s Museum, featuring the beautiful story An Ofrenda for Perro. Following the reading, families will create colorful alebrijes—imaginative creatures inspired by Mexican folk art—out of Model Magic and watercolor paints. Together, we celebrate memory, connection, and the special qualities of those we hold dear. Recommended for families with children ages 4 to 10.

Dance performances include:

• Sones Huastecos – A dance traditionally performed in the north of Mexico with prop butterflies and flowers symbolizing a physical representation of our loved ones who are no longer with us.
• Sones de Veracruz – “La Bruja,” a dance traditionally performed with candles on dancers’ heads, symbolizing the spirits’ light that guides them back to the other side after they have revisited Earth.
• Sones de Guerrero – Often associated with the Pacific coast of Mexico, this dance incorporates Indigenous and Afro-Latino traditions with soulful rhythmic footwork performed on a wooden platform.
• Sones de Jalisco – This dance is often accompanied by mariachi music, representing the lively atmosphere of Día de los Muertos. The celebratory nature of this dance reminds us that mariachi, in the Otomi language, means “party.”

About MAZarte

Choreographers: Martha Zárate-Alvarez and Noé Domínguez

MAZarte Dance Company is an artistic organization that exposes the history and the art of the indigenous artisans of Mexican culture through dance. The goal is to promote Mexican culture and heritage, and bring history to life. They offer educational programs to NYC communities, and believe that their approach to culture and the arts should be holistic—and that each program should reconnect and support the indigenous communities in Mexico.

Photo by Ed Alvarez