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What once was a somber and often solitary effort, has over time become a city-wide celebration that shows again what a crossroads South Texas is.
Day of the Dead has been celebrated for centuries in graveyards in Mexico, but further south as well, and even here in Texas.
Jim Mendiola has been coordinating San Antonio’s Muertos Fest for years.
“I think, more and more people from areas of the country that aren't familiar with Day of the Dead now have a more basic understanding because of movies like Coco," he said.
Mendiola thinks it may just be on track to becoming a holiday for all Americans.
“Celebrating and honoring loved ones who have passed is not unique to Mexican culture,” Mendiola said. “Anyone can identify with that practice, but I think the details [this year] are going to be really exciting and different for someone who hasn't experienced it before.”
San Antonio’s Day of the Dead event is called Muertos Fest, which is early this year, from Oct. 24-26. The living are creating altars honoring those who have passed on. And Hemisfair is ground zero for the event in San Antonio.
“The great thing about the people who make altars for our event, they stay there, they put up their chairs and sit there with their family and engage,” he said.
Those who come to Muertos Fest can speak to those who built each altar, what each photo means to them.
“What's interesting that we see now is we have over 135,000 people come over two days, and [there will be] 80 altars that we put up with the heart and soul of it. They're stories about people from San Antonio,” he said.
Many consider Day of the Dead a very personal remembrance, but when you zoom out from family all the way to the city, it serves a slightly different function.
“The interesting thing about Day of the Dead is it's sort of like a yearbook of what's happened in the community,” Mendiola said. “You see people we have lost, you remember who they are, and you see their lives celebrated.”
One measure of Muertos Fest’s quality are its 80 altars that are being built, as well as music that will be performed on multiple stages. Five different stages will generate music, poetry and more.
“We got a lot of big names, [including] Rick Trevino, Ruben Ramos, Patsy Torres, but I think what we're really excited about is we're having two of the members of Los Lobos come. They're flying in from L.A. so that's gonna be part of the night,” Mendiola said.
Los Lobos’ Cesar Rosas and David Hidalgo will perform with Max Baca and Los Texmaniacs, and they will honor Flaco Jimenez, who passed away on July 31.
Mendiola said that those who don’t plan on making an altar at home, but would still like to honor their loved ones, can do so at muertosfest.com.
“Just send a picture. We take those and we print them, and we adhere them to the giant community altar that's the center of the of the event,” he said.
“Eighty altars. About 50 bands. Very dynamic and very robust children's area. So it's family-friendly,” he said. “And the main thing that people should take away from it is—it's free.”
Learn more about Muertos Fest at their website.
