Brittany Aguilera

For my Altar I wanted to call my ancestors home to eat with me at the dinner table like old times. In my altar I am honoring my Nina Esther, my cousin Rosy and my sweet fur baby Benji the Bunny. I also added indigenous objects that help me reconnect to my past ancestors that I may not have not known in this life but feel as though they are guiding me.

My Nina Esther was like a mother to me. She took care of me and inspired me to be the best I could be. When she passed on, she said she would come back to visit us as a Monarch butterfly, so I incorporated many of them in my altar to welcome her. My cousin Rosy was terminally ill with cystic fibrosis and she passed away at 13. She dreamt of being an artist, which is a dream that we shared. My sister and I still think of Rosy whenever we make art. Rosy really enjoyed being in the garden and was inspired by nature and she said that when she passed on, she would come back to visit us as a hummingbird. I made a hummingbird copalero to honor her memory and spirit. Benji the Bunny was my sweet baby, he was the pet that was family and guardian of the home. He brought happiness, joy and so much love to everyone and he knew when you were sad and came to cheer you up. I honor his spirit by putting rabbits on my altar because I know his spirit is watching over us.

In the center of my altar is a healing mask made of precious stones like rose quartz, obsidian, jasper, goldstone, turquoise, granite and abalone shell. My Nina Esther brought this mask back from her trip to the Pirámide del Sol in Teotihuacán, Mexico which is a healing place she visited while battling breast cancer. She gifted this mask to my family before she passed away, so I placed the mask in the center to bring love and healing to my altar.

The center mirror on the table of my altar is a labyrinth with Coyolxauhqui, the Aztec moon goddess in the center. My sister Tatiana made this resin casted mirror with a Coyolxauhqui coin that is no longer in circulation. She created this mirror as a reflection on her path to healing. So, we surrounded this mirror with marigolds and seven candles for the seven generations to help us find our way. I laid out glasses of water, corn, clementines, sangria, pan de muerto, miniature food and a banana for Benji, one of his favorite treats.

There are many dolls in my altar to represent my matrilineal ancestors that guide me. On each side of my altar I have Michoacána dolls with ribbons in their hair and their traditional indigenous clothing that my grandmother brought back from Mexico. I also made a corn husk doll to give thanks to the earth for the harvest. On the back shelf there is a paper mache doll that Tatiana made of my Nina Esther to honor her.

I also included two figures on each side of the altar which is the Catrina and La Virgen de Guadalupe to represent the duality of life and death and how they are inseparable from each other. In the front of the table there is a little snake slithering by, and the snake represents Coatlicue and the energies of the earth because we are on the earth plane and we are welcoming our ancestors home.