Jocelyn Lopez

Growing up, my family has a long history of practicing Dia De Los Muertos. However, in my experience, our altars were never as elaborate as the ones you’re used to seeing with sugar skulls, alebrijes, and papel picado. I spoke to both of my parents to try to understand how their families celebrate Dia De Los Muertos. Photos aren’t the most important part of an altar like how Disney’s Coco tries to make you believe. My parents taught me it’s about the food and water. Fruit and pan de muerto are needed to feed the ancestors and water to quench their thirst for traveling between spiritual realms. I added some of my ancestors favorite drinks or snacks out of appreciation and I also see it as a way to maintain connections even if they’re not physically here.

This is the first time an altar has been done extravagantly. The top part that reads my complete last name that honors both sides of my family is inspired from the trajineras of Xochimilco. Ancestrally, my family comes from various parts of Mexico (Michoacan, Jalisco, Guanajuato, and Guerrero). Due to poverty and Mexico’s poor economy, my family had to constantly migrate across Mexico and the United States in order to work to survive. They finally settled in Mexico City, in the neighborhood district of Xochimilco and Coyocan, where my parents would meet and eventually migrate to Los Angeles. Although both sides of my family were constantly displaced and in diaspora, whenever we’d all gather we would always take a ride on one of the trajineras in Xochimilco. Xochimilco always stands for a place of unity for both sides of my family and as a marker of home.   

I never met both of my grandfathers because they unfortunately passed before I could even have the chance to meet them. However, surprisingly we share a lot of favorite foods and drinks. My grandfather Mario and I have a strong love for Coca-Cola. I struggle with this sometimes because Coca-Cola isn’t healthy. In the Latinx community, diabetes is such a common health issue.  Also, my family has a history of diabetes and heart problems. As I am getting older, I am actively trying to break generational curses such as these. I try to cut back my intake of Coca-Cola because in my family we drank it with every meal except breakfast (sometimes). Whenever we visit family in Mexico, Coca-Cola is always served. Coca-Cola has so many factories in Mexico that pollute and exploit resources all while fueling health issues like diabetes in the community. Today, I share a bottle of Mexican Coca-Cola with my abuelo Mario so we each only drink half a bottle. This is also a way for me to have some connection with him by communing together, despite that we’ve never met each other.

I recently lost an uncle this year. My tio Raul. Watching his health decline while being away in college was so hard. I added one of his favorite snacks, which are pistachios, to honor him and show my appreciation. He was always rooting for my journey in higher education. He constantly made it known that he was very proud of me. Despite that I couldn’t see him during his last moments, he did visit me in a dream where we hugged and told me he was okay and was still very proud of me. I also honor my aunt Elvira whom passed last year. My tia Elvira is the only immediate relative who has returned to one of our ancestral homelands and stayed. Also she is the eldest child of my grandmother Maria Trancito.

One of the hardships of building this altar was doing the research of my family. There is a lot of trauma and pain in my family history. Since I didn’t get to meet many of them, I felt that my job was to be the person that has to make peace and see the beauty within the struggle. My abuelo Simon was a hard man. He wasn’t the nicest person in anyone’s memory. However, I also learned about his own traumas that explained (but not justify) his behavior. I was also told that he greatly disliked the church so I made him a medicine bag. Some of my indigenous roots comes from him so I hope the medicine bag I made offers him some peace. I beaded a hummingbird on the bag because in both sides of my family, it is a very sacred animal for us that offers a connection to our ancestors, protection, and healing powers.

I hope my altar offers some healing to my ancestors. Food and water is most sacred here not only for its spiritual meaning but I also think about how often my ancestors and family struggled with food insecurity. I really hope I did them proud. Some of the pictures you see are pictures that my parents and current family are seeing for the very first time. May this altar break generational curses.