On Oct. 2, the community of Windsor turned out to celebrate its Mexican heritage and honor its ancestors by building El Día de los Muertos memorial altars on the Town Green. It is part of a month-long celebration of the holiday.
The altars, called ofrendas, honor the deceased using calaveras (skulls), aztec marigolds, and the favorite items, foods and beverages of the departed. The ofrendas can be found along the pathway east of the fountains on the Town Green. While some are traditional, honoring individual family members who have passed, others honor the community and call for community healing.
Windsor’s celebrations had to be altered, like so many things, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the setting of the ofrendas was done with masks and social distancing, and the normal sugar skull decorating was done as a take home activity, with over 520 kits including sugar skulls and decorating items given away to local families.
The altars will be on display until Nov. 1. On Oct. 16, the art panels currently on display at businesses around the Green for the Windsor Chamber’s ‘Around the World in 20 Blocks’ event will be flipped around to reveal their El Día de los Muertos-themed artwork each artist created.
Other events coming this month include:
Windsor Día de los Muertos Lowrider Car Show, Sunday Oct. 11, Windsor Farmers’ Market, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Members of local classic car clubs will be there showing off their finest autos. Cars will be parked in the parking area in front of the library. Día de los Muertos Volunteers will be stationed at either end of the display to monitor crowd size near the cars. We ask your patience if you need to wait a few minutes to enter the exhibit area so that we may keep the viewers socially distanced.
Youth Memory Portrait Show, Saturday Oct. 17, Windsor Town Green Businesses. Come see the entries and winners of the annual Windsor El Día de los Muertos Memory Portrait competition. The competition is for Windsor students in 5th through 12th grade. Student artists create a drawing, painting, collage, mixed-media piece, or original photo in the Día de los Muertos style depicting a pet, hero, friend or family member now among Los Muertos, the dead. Portraits will be on display Oct. 17-Nov. 1 in the windows of Windsor Town Green merchants.
To see event details, RSVP, or join the Windsor Día de los Muertos emailing list for future events, visit www.windsormuertos.com/fiesta-2020.
