San Diego Cemetery Prepares for Día de los Muertos Celebration Under the Moon

Marigolds, cut-paper banners known as "papel picado," skulls and skeletons, and the first pieces of family altars now dot the rolling grassy hills and gravesites of La Vista Memorial Park, in San Diego's Lincoln Acres neighborhood. The cemetery is preparing for Día de los Muertos, which falls on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.

Many people believe the scent of the marigolds, called cempasúchil, guides the spirits of the dead back home. Those spirits are expected to return to the cemetery in the coming days as part of an annual tradition that began there almost two decades ago.

Luisa McCarthy, co-owner of La Vista Memorial Park and Mortuary, said the custom started with the death of her father, who is buried in Tecate, Baja California. Because his headstone was not at La Vista, she decided to build an altar for him there. McCarthy grew up in Mexico City, a major center for Día de los Muertos celebrations, and noted that the holiday has ancient Mesoamerican and Aztec roots. She invites people of all backgrounds to join in. She said it was a more traditional Mexican celebration long before the 2017 film "Coco" popularized the holiday.

Families have been planning their altars and will gather at the cemetery during the day and at night on the first two days of November. According to tradition, the border between the physical and spirit worlds is crossed at night, and the souls of the dead return to eat, drink and enjoy music with their loved ones. "The cemetery lights up by its own personal light that the families bring, which is really what it's all about," McCarthy said. She described a potluck-style gathering where families share food with their neighbors, who are also their neighbors in the afterlife.

For Angela Riggs, the altar is a link to her son Leo, who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at 26 days old in 2013. She said that after his death there was nothing physical left for her to do. Her family has built an altar at La Vista every year since. Although she is half Mexican, she did not grow up with the tradition. Building the seven levels, adding salt and water, candles, marigolds and the smell of copal was, she said, "such a therapeutic way for me to continue to do something as his mother."

Racquel Galicia, matriarch of another participating family, was born in central Mexico and raised in Tijuana. She said that for her family the holiday is "an offering of love," and that La Vista's festivities, while different from those south of the border, come about as close as possible in the United States. She always brings food to share, including pan de muerto, a sweet, spiced bread often shaped with a cross that represents human bones. Her husband and grandson are buried at the cemetery. She said her husband, an immigrant who arrived with nothing, founded Sammy's Mexican Bakery 30 years ago.

Thomas Gallardo lost his father last year, and his family built an altar at the cemetery for the first time a few months later. They won an altar competition at last year's event. Gallardo said the experience has helped him grieve and allows him to visit without spending the whole time crying.

McCarthy said the celebration has changed in size and scope over the years but not in essence. She will oversee the Nov. 1 events dressed as a Catrina, an elegant skeleton costume that reminds people that everyone is equal in death. "We don't want it to become another Cinco de Mayo," she said, calling it a sacred tradition of remembering loved ones.

Anyone may build an altar at La Vista if they sign up ahead of time, and the public is welcome to visit. The cash-prize altar and Catrina contests take place in the afternoon on Nov. 1, the day set aside for the souls of children, while Nov. 2 honors the souls of adults. McCarthy expects a couple thousand people on Nov. 1, with festivities lasting into the night, when the souls of loved ones can stay until midnight.