Making my altar was such an amazing experience. Both my abuelitos passed away recently (2019 and 2021) so celebrating Dia de los Muertos is super new to both my family and I. I initially had planned to make the altar in my apartment, however I decided to go home to my parents house to put this altar together. There were lots of emotions while putting it all together as we were reminiscing on the good times we got to spend with my abuelitos. Some of the most important things in the altar that I decided to highlight were the marigold flower, my grandpa’s sombrero and rosary, el caldo de rez, the flower arc and the portraits of both of my grandfathers. As for the marigold flower, or la flor de cempasuchil, these are very traditional to the holiday so we could not miss that. My grandpa’s sombrero and rosary were very important to add because they represent his faith and his hard work. El caldo de rez was both of my grandfathers favorite foods (which I learned this weekend!) so I thought it was essential to have that. The arc is supposed to also be super important as it is believed to be the portal in which our loved ones go through to come visit us on the day of the dead. Finally, the portraits! To me, this was the most important part of the entire altar as those are the portraits of those who we are dedicating the entire altar to.