Children will leave a trail of marigolds this Friday up the steps of Casa de Rosado gallery. Día de Los Angelitos is the first ceremony of El Día de Los Muertos celebration. The Mexican tradition honors ancestors from the perspective of a child.
Starting with a film screening at the Lansing Public Media Center at 5:30 p.m., the procession “of angels” will begin at the media center and end at the gallery. The walk will be led by children holding candle luminarias.
“The first is the day of children where you welcome their spirits to the household, the marigolds direct their spirit so they can remember how to get home. In our case, we will have a screening of ‘Coco,’” said gallery owner Teresa Rosado, who has recognized the tradition for more than 20 years.
The Michigan Indígena/Chicanx Community Alliance and Voces de La Comunidad organized the three-day observation at Casa de Rosado.
An opening ceremony at 1 p.m. Saturday at Casa de Rosado welcomes the departed back for the weekend. Also known as All Souls Day, it’s customary on this day to bring warmth into the home by inviting guests and passing small dishes. Hot chocolate, tamales and pan de muerto, a special sweet bread, will be served.
Inside the gallery, families and community groups installed colorful altars welcoming their deceased loved ones. The altars are decorated with flowers, candles, their loved one’s favorite food and pan de muerto. The exhibit of altars remains until 6 p.m. Sunday.
One of the most elaborate of displays was crafted by the Michigan Alliance for Latino Education and Culture (MALEC) — a wire prison cell door on a large platform, with flowers, candles, a baseball glove and picture frames lining its steps. Unlike most altars, the frames are filled with names, rather than sepia-toned portraits. The seven frames and skeletons on the altar represent children who have died while in the custody of federal immigration agencies, or shortly after being released.
On the other side of the gallery wall sits a glittery spectacle of pride. Papel picado is strung across the wall above a table tiered with marigolds and an array of framed, grayscale portraits. The creation belongs to the Thought Club, an intersectional LGBT culture club in Lansing. The founder, Isabella Copeland, has created “ofrendas” — or offerings — with her family for years, but this was her first community offering.
“Including our LGBT community into something that is so important to our heritage. This provides an opportunity that may not have always been available for some of our Latinx members,” said Copeland.
A family tradition passed down through her mother, Copeland said the altar construction process connects her to some of her happiest memories from childhood. The tradition has turned into a mechanism to connect with the community for this new resident of Lansing.
“It’s the understanding that there is another world out there that we go to once we cross over, and there is an on-going relationship between the dead and the living,” Copeland said.
Una Noche Con Coco
Friday, Nov. 1, 5:30 to 9 p.m.
Free
Lansing Public Media Center
2500 S. Washington Ave., Lansing
(517) 402-0282, Facebook.com/casaderosado
El Día de Los Muertos
Saturday, Nov. 2 to Sunday, Nov. 3
11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Casa de Rosado
204 E. Mt Hope Ave., Lansing
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