Adriana Perez-Munuzuri

The altar I created is dedicated to my grandmother Bertha Ofelia Pintos, she was born on April 12, 1953 and passed away March 11, 2019. I do not remember my grandmother but this altar helped me get close to her in a way. I spent the weeks prior to setting up the altar, talking to my mom about my grandmother and learning about her. My mother shared memories of her and the things she loved. This led to conversations about old pictures that we left behind in Mexico and I am thankful to now be in possession of those photographs. I do not remember much about my grandmother but I feel closer to her.

As I began to set up the altar for my grandmother, I cleansed the space with some sage and said a prayer to help welcome my grandmother into our home. I wanted to include my children in this experience and so my husband cut out skull faces from paper plates for our boys to color. I made an arch with paper marigold flowers to place around my grandmother’s picture. I made papel picado and hung it in the wall behind the altar. The altar has objects that represent my grandmother’s birthplace (Mexico) as well as things that she loved. I placed a glass of water for my grandmother to enjoy after her trip to the living world. I placed glass coke bottles for her because she preferred those over the canned ones. I also put some coronas because my mom shared that my grandma liked to drink. I added some Mexican candy (mazapan, pulpa de tamarindo), fruit, and her favorite pan dulce. In the package that my grandfather sent with my photographs, there was a keychain with the word Acapulco on it and I placed that to symbolize my grandmother’s birthplace. I added some candles and marigolds. My kids remembered the movie Coco and the path that we make to help guide our ancestors’ way to the living world and so we made a small path with marigold petals.

I am very happy with the finished altar that I prepared for my grandmother. This project has made me feel closer to her and I know so much about her that I did not know before. I do not have any memories of her but it brings me a lot of joy to keep her spirit alive by talking about her and honoring her through this altar. This is my first time setting up an altar and I am thankful that my children took part in this. I plan to make this a tradition in my home and hope that my children will continue to do this when they grow older.