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A Day of the Dead altar in D.C. will honor a traitor, and be stunning

2023-10-26 00:00:00.0 华盛顿邮报-华盛顿特区原网页

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Enrique Quiroz didn't know his grandparents, but you would never suspect that if you heard him talk about his grandmother.

He can tell you what she looked like and what sweater she loved wearing. He can tell you what she cooked and what phrases she was known for saying.

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“I feel like I know her,” he told me on a recent afternoon. “I feel like I met her because of this tradition.”

“This tradition” is part of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. For the holiday, people across Mexico and the United States put together ofrendas — altars that are adorned with photos of their loved ones and items that tell of the lives those loved ones led. A grandfather’s favorite drink might sit in that space. So, too, might a beloved aunt’s gardening gloves or a child’s toy.

“It’s about remembering and respecting your ancestry,” Quiroz said. “The Aztecs and the Mayans used to say there are three deaths. The first one is when your heart stops. The second one is when you’re buried. And the third one, and the most fatal one, is when you’re forgotten. The minute I stop talking about my grandma, she is dead. Because then no one remembers her, no one is talking about her.”

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I spoke with Quiroz while looking into the types of ofrendas that will start appearing across the Washington region in the coming days. (Day of the Dead, also known as Days of the Dead, is traditionally celebrated on Nov. 1 and 2.) A public ofrenda will be on display at the National Museum of the American Indian as part of a celebration the National Museum of the American Latino is hosting on Saturday and Sunday. Visitors will be able to leave photos and mementos of their loved ones on it.

Other ofrendas will occupy more-private spaces in the region. They will fill corners of homes and sit in rooms in churches. They may even appear in schools. My family lives within walking distance of a high school, and around this time last year, a teenager knocked on our door. He wanted to know whether he could cut some of the marigolds in our front yard for an ofrenda he and his classmates were making at the school. I’m guessing the sugar skull wreath on our front door let him know we would welcome him taking as many as he wanted.

It’s no surprise that as Day of the Dead imagery has become more popular across the country, ofrendas have become easier to find. People might also be embracing them more for another reason. The past several years have brought a lot of loss, and building an ofrenda can be healing. It can make a lost loved one feel less gone. Whether small or large, elaborate or simple, ofrendas all accomplish the same thing: They create a connection between the past and the present.

Quiroz understands the power of those altars — and the symbolism behind the items used to create them — better than most people. He is an altarist. He prepares ofrendas throughout the region in his spare time and as part of his job. In past years, he has made them for churches and other organizations, and since 2017 he has created the public ofrenda that goes on display at the Mexican Cultural Institute of D.C., where he works as the director of artistic affairs.

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Last year, the altar he created in collaboration with Chihuahua, the largest state in Mexico, won first place in a contest that pitted it against ofrendas created in Mexican embassies around the world. The altar paid tribute to David Alfaro Siqueiros, a Mexican muralist who died in 1974.

Every year, the institute picks a figure to honor with its ofrenda, and this year Quiroz chose an unusual one. He picked La Malinche, a woman with a complicated legacy. She is so well known as a traitor that her name has become an insult. If someone of Mexican descent uses the term “malinchista” to describe someone else of Mexican descent, they are essentially calling that person a “sellout.”

La Malinche, also known as Do？a Marina and Malintzin, was an Indigenous woman who served as an interpreter for Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and later gave birth to his son. She has been historically characterized as helping Cortés defeat the Aztec emperor Moctezuma, leading to the fall of the empire.

In reality, many details of her life remain unknown and her story has been reexamined and reinterpreted repeatedly throughout history. In one version, she was sold into slavery by her mother. In another version, she was taken from her family as a girl. In some versions, she is not a traitor — she is a survivor. She is a brilliant woman whose gift with languages allowed her to speak to the Aztecs, Mayans and Spaniards. In a poem, titled “La Malinche,” Carmen Tafolla writes, “I saw our world/ and your world/ and another.”

When I learned that La Malinche would be honored in the ofrenda this year, I was intrigued. It’s a bold choice. Many of the people who visit the ofrenda — and thousands have in past years — might not notice the image of her on it. But for those who do, her story offers a chance to consider the complexity of history. So often in school and elsewhere we get the simple version. We get stories that place villains and victims in an easy-to-digest dichotomy. Her story does not allow that.

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Quiroz said he knew he was picking a controversial person. But he sees her as a survivor. As he considered her for the ofrenda, he also thought about how her name is used to divide Mexicans who are united in many cultural ways, whether they live in the United States or Mexico.

“That’s what I love about the food and the culture and the traditions and the music — it erases all these categories that we like to tag people with,” he said. As the son of a Mexican diplomat, he is a citizen of Mexico but has lived most his life outside the country.

The institute plans to hold its Day of the Dead celebration on Saturday. It will welcome the public with Mexican hot chocolate and pan de muerto, or bread of the dead. A pianist will play and children will get crafts. The public will also get to see the ofrenda. In past years, Quiroz has made towering displays with seven distinct levels. This year, he plans to make a smaller, but equally stunning, display that has three levels.

“Even though it’s going to be humble, it’s going to be made with all my heart and all my energy,” he said. “That’s what’s important. You don’t have to have all the production of lights and flowers. The most admired altars and ofrendas are the ones that are the most heartfelt.”

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