This year, Karla Frey had a hard time finishing her usual offering in his Boucherville, Que. home.
Two months ago, his five-year-old neighbor and his mother died in a car accident.
She remembers that the boy visited her every year and asked her questions about her. offering — the altar he has been setting up annually for the past 15 years to honor loved ones who have passed away.
Overwhelmed by the thought of a mother dying with her child, Frey moved forward and finished setting up the altar. He took out his frames, candles, a decorative version of a bread known as bread of the dead, shredded papermezcal, tequila and marigold (Mexican marigolds), and we got to work.
“I was thinking about how much my little neighbor loved life. He loved my offeringand I also did it a little for him and his mother,” Frey confided, looking at the photo of the two neighbors resting on top of the altar, with a heart floating above it.
This year, that curious five-year-old boy will visit her again, but in a different way.
“Now I feel good when I see the finished product. offering and I see them there. “I’m happy,” Frey said.
the day of the deador Day of the Dead, is a multi-day holiday that begins in late October through early November, is rooted in indigenous traditions and celebrated in style throughout Mexico.
People honor their deceased family members, friends, children, and pets by reflecting on, celebrating, and decorating graves, cemeteries, streets, and homes. They bring life back through memory, love and vibration.not colors, welcoming the dead.
In Quebec, the Mexican diaspora carries these ancestral traditions with them.
For Frey, who never celebrated day of the dead While living in Mexico City, the holiday is not only a way to reconnect with deceased loved ones, but has become a bridge between Quebec and her homeland.
Facing death through memories of life.
Every year, Frey gathers friends at her home and each of them shares memories of their loved ones.
Frey places mezcal, water, and tequila on his altar because, as he explains, the dead are thirsty when they come to visit. And the aroma of copal incense and the photographs guide them to the altar on the right.
Remembering the dead is important, he noted, because if you don’t, they die again, this time from sadness.
Putting all your emotions into it offerings Over the years it helped her accept her father’s death more easily. For her, it is an “exchange opportunity.”
“It’s not just emotion, it’s something visual,” he said. “I feel like people need to see that the person is gone.”
After years of participating in Day of the Dead festivities, the holiday took on new meaning for Gerardo Familiar Ferrer after celebrating with his indigenous friends in the mountains of Oaxaca, a southern Mexican state known for its rich indigenous history.
“This moment really changed the way I understand the Day of the Dead and I have a lot more respect for the tradition,” Familiar Ferrer said.
At his home in Gatineau, Quebec, Relative Ferrer’s altar has a small box with the names of loved ones who have passed away, including his maternal grandmother.
His deep knowledge of traditions has allowed him to share the day of the dead with others.
During the past week, groups of people eager to discover the day of the dead have They met at UNAM-Canada in Gatineau, where they embark on an immersive journey that begins in a dimly lit cave.
It is not a real cave, but a replica of a key scene to understand the Mexican festival.
“For the indigenous people of Mexico, caves and caverns are places of contact between the afterlife and the world of the living,” explained Familiar Ferrer, who works for UNAM-Canada, a language school that organizes the free guided tour.
when visitors enterAt one of the tombs on the tour, the air is filled with different aromas: fir trees, sage, cedars and copal, a smell meant to capture the atmosphere of Mexican cemeteries.
He exhibitions The cemetery shines with marigolds, skeletons, flickering candles and Xoloitzcuintle, the dog that accompanies souls.
This tour, which runs until November 8, is one of several examples of Mexican Quebecers sharing their traditions with a broader audience.
For Rafael Benítez, a Montrealer who is interim director and co-founder of PAAL Partageons le mondeOrganizing the city’s Day of the Dead festival has also helped him channel his grief into connecting with others.
When he was five years old, his sister died at birth. And more recently, his mother passed away.
“[The festival] “It helped me a lot in my own grieving process and in understanding my mother’s transition to another stage of life, death and the cycle,” she said.
‘I’m not afraid to die’
Although the first edition of the festival was more intimate, over the years it became a space for intercultural exchange.
On Saturday, organizers will hold an event showcasing around 10 themed altars.
“Desire [people] remember that in Montreal intercultural dialogue is productive and can lead to good things,” said Benítez.
For Benítez, each edition is also an opportunity to recognize the resilience of indigenous peoples, from the Comcáac in Mexico to the Kanien’kehá:ka to keep ancestral traditions alive.
Both towns will be at Saturday’s event.
“I’m very grateful because they suffered a lot in the past so that we can present this today,” he said.
And the people who celebrate this holiday have a message for the uninitiated: despite notions of death and pain, he day of the dead It’s not meant to be scary.
“November 2 is a day to reflect, to think about everything these people have done for me, the moments I have spent with them,” said Boucherville resident Karla Frey, with a radiant smile and contagious energy.
“It’s a happy day, not a sad one.”
For Frey, each year she meticulously selects her offeringIt is her chance to show her daughters that, when the time comes, she wants them to pay her the tribute she has given to her loved ones.
“I want the girls to see how much I love them. That way, they know I want to be there,” Frey said.
“I’m not afraid of dying… I’m someone who lives life to the fullest.”
