- I wanted to share this moment
because it just got like incredibly overwhelmed
with like love right now.
(gentle mariachi music)
Hi guys, I'm Carolina,
and today I'm gonna be showing you guys how to make
a Día de los Muertos altar,
which I'm super excited about.
I never really did altars growing up as a kid.
And I did grow up having an altar in my house,
like year round.
My mom has a statue of Jesus in her bedroom
with pictures of both of my relatives
that have passed away.
They have candles that are lit literally all the time.
So just a quick background on Day of the Dead.
It was created by the Aztecs about 3000 years ago
because they believed that we should not be grieving
the passing of our ancestors or relatives,
but we should be celebrating their life
and what they were able to accomplish here on earth.
And I relate to that a lot,
because I feel like in my family,
whenever a family member passes away,
we always tend to have a party
where we all dressed in white,
and we just talk about their life.
We celebrate what they were able to do on this earth
and I feel like that's very beautiful.
It became kind of religious
when the Spanish Conquest happened.
The Catholic leaders came
and they kind of forced their influence
into what the tradition and the holiday is now.
Notice how I said "forced."
I'm gonna be doing an altar based on my relatives,
my abuelo Chispas and my abuelo Chuy
who I love, love, love, love both of them so much.
I was able to spend a couple
of years with my abuelo Chispas.
Unfortunately, I never got to meet my abuelo Chuy,
so I am excited to be making this
so I can feel more connected to them,
and I just to feel their love
with me constantly, which I do, I do,
but this is just a little special something.
So let's get started.
(giggle)
I'm going to combine two elements
into one for this particular part of my culture
that I'm going to show you guys what I'm doing.
So typically on a Day of the Dead altar, you put pictures
of your relatives so they can come and visit you.
So I printed out two pictures
of some relatives that I would hope
that they visit me, I'm going to start crying.
So this is my grandfather's,
grandfather Jesus, but we called him Chuy.
And this is my other grandpa Jesus.
Why do they all have the same name?
And we called him Chispas,
and I only got to know him
for like a year and a half of my life.
My grandma's still alive
but this is the only picture that I have
of you and my grandpa.
Another thing that I kind of wanted to combine
with these picture frames is
the way that people incorporate monarch butterflies
into their altars.
So according to NPR,
monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico every fall.
So it kinda is connected
to the day of the dead because people believe
that these spirits, these monarch butterflies are spirits
of our ancestors that are coming to visit.
So I've decided,
my DIY craft mind,
that is not the best idea crafts,
I'm going to try and do what some
purple paint that I have just like laying around my house.
I'm going to try and draw some monarch butterflies.
You know I'll try to draw one up here,
up here in the corners.
- (mariachi music)
My fun butterfly.
She's not great.
She's not perfect.
Nobody's perfect.
- (background mariachi)
- This is also just to remind
you that I am not an amazing crafts major.
I am not a very DIY handy
but you know, we're trying our best out here.
So this is a little area
that I'm going to be doing my altar
and I have my candles,
I have my skull, and I have my marigold there ready to go.
So I'm just going to show you guys what I'm doing
and I'll explain everything little thing.
Okay, so I'm going to be starting off with a box.
I'm going to use this box to represent two levels
on my altar.
Typically there are three levels
but I will be doing two:
the top level is to represent heaven
and then the middle one is to represent earth.
I like to put a yellow tablecloth.
Yellow in some cultures represents happiness and vitality.
So I feel like it works really well in this altar.
I also decided to use a crocheted mini tablecloth.
I like to use this because I'm putting this on the top part
of the altar, where it's supposed to symbolize heaven,
I'm using this to symbolize the clouds in heaven.
I'm also going to be adding a white candle--
it represents fire--
it is considered a light guiding the spirits back
to the land of the living.
I'm adding my religious necklace
as the religious symbol on the alter.
This is a necklace that my mom had given me that was given
to her by my dad when I was born.
And it comes with a little Virgen de Guadalupe.
Next, I'm going to be adding my skull.
Typically there's ease of sugar skulls.
Of course, my photos of my relatives that I decorated
with monarch butterflies.
I'm going to be adding these jalapenos
as a way to represent earth
but also both of my grandfathers
they liked to plant and grow things on the ranches.
So I'm also using the jalapenos
as a way to represent that.
Next I'm even making a cross out of salt.
And this is used to purify the souls.
Next, we're going to add some water
to hydrate and quench the thirst
of the souls because their journey is very long.
Also some tequila to toast to their life and their arrival.
Next, the food for my relatives, this was a little tricky
because I don't really know much about him.
So I decided to use one
of the products that my dad sells in his business.
I feel like he would like that a lot.
For my abuelo Chispas,
I decided to incorporate the smoked oysters
since his oyster appetizer is a family favorite.
Next is the marigold,
so these are actually considered flowers of the dead,
and supposedly the smell
of these flowers attracts the souls to the altar.
In some cultures, some people combine miracles
with burning incense to draw on the souls more.
And now I'm going to be doing papel picado,
which I completely forgot about,
but this is supposed to represent air
and the frailty of life.
So the main things to remember
for your altar is to have four elements:
water, air, fire, and land.
(tearful) I turned the camera off,
but it just got really emotional, you know
here and just like having them here in the house.
And just I wanted to share this moment
because I just got like incredibly overwhelmed
with like love right now,
and I just, I just felt like they were here
for like seconds and it felt really nice.
Like this is like tears of
like happiness, because I feel that they're here right now.
And I just,
I'm just like so grateful
and I wish I could have spent more time
with them when they were here
or I wish I could have met my abuelo Chuy, but you know,
you have to be grateful for the time on earth that you have.
I think the one thing that this
whole thing makes me realize is
that you have to tell the people that
you love them when they're there,
and you just make sure
that every day counts and especially with this
with this pandemic going on, like taking care
of yourself, making sure that your mind is okay
that your soul is okay, that whatever is hurting you,
that you can find a way to let go of it.
Be present in the moment
and not letting little things hold you back.
Live every day like it's your last,
and like, I hate to say that cliche, but like,
it's true.
I just know that they're here with me always.
They're always here with me, but I feel
like right now,
especially like having these little things
for them,
it brings me a lot closer to them.
And I just felt very, like, I felt very loving
and I was like, I want to share this moment.
And I want to say something about it.
That was nice.
That was a really nice moment.
- (gentle mariachi music)
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