For my altar, I chose to include some Catholic religious elements. I know my family was incredibly religious. Their religion was so important that even my mother made sure that my family members who passed away in the civil war were documented as baptized Catholics. Religion is something that is sacred in Peru. In fact, there are many Catholic religious holidays marked as national holidays, which made me think that my deceased family members would have probably liked that their altar would include Catholic momentums. I laid rosary beads on the picture frame, a candle for Saint Martin de Porres (a well-known Catholic saint in Peru) and of course, references to Jesus Christ. In addition to the religious elements, I included the following food offerings: canchita, a well-liked Peruvian snack food, Coca-Cola, a family favorite, and fruits that were enjoyed by my family. Lastly, I was inspired to include white roses around the altar since my parents mentioned to me that when a person passes away, it is custom to lay white roses down on their grave. I included many white roses to represent the members that passed away that night. Since this is an altar dedicated to all my family members that passed away during the civil war, note that the picture in the frame is where the mass grave of my family members is located. I don’t have photos of those family members, but they were buried in this area, so this photo symbolically represents all of them.
Share