New York City Rental Guide · Arts & Happenings

Día de los Muertos, Where to Celebrate in New York

Autumn has always been my season. I love the harvest feasts, the early dusk and the crisp air, and the sense that for a few weeks the veil thins and we get a peek into the liminal space between here and the hereafter. Halloween is fun, and I’ll never turn down a good costume, but for years now it’s been Día de los Muertos that has truly captured my imagination. There’s a reverence to it, and a style, that I find irresistible: marigolds piled high, candlelit altars layered with photographs and pan de muerto, and elegant skeletons dressed to the nines, all in the name of remembering the people we’ve lost with joy instead of dread.

New York does it beautifully, and this weekend the city is full of ofrendas, music and dance. Here are the events I’m sure to visit.

Día de los Muertos at the New York Botanical Garden

The Bronx · Through Monday, November 2

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I’ll start in the Bronx. NYBG has spent the whole month celebrating, and this final weekend is the grand finale. At the heart of it is a giant, flower-covered Catrina by the artist Lucrecia Novoa, surrounded by marigolds, decorated skulls and a community ofrenda where you can leave a photo or a written memory of a loved one. From 1 to 5 p.m. on October 31, November 1 and November 2, Mascara Viva’s towering skeleton and Catrina puppets roam the garden, and the folkloric dance company MAZarte performs every half hour on Saturday and Monday afternoons.

The big day is Sunday, November 1, when a Día de los Muertos parade winds through the garden at 2 p.m., followed by a MAZarte performance at 2:30, a dance class and a party. Workshops in papel picado, silk flowers and clay alebrijes round it out, and it’s a fabulous outing for families.

Reposo y Recuerdo at Green-Wood Cemetery

Greenwood Heights · Through Sunday, November 15

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This one moves me most. I wrote about Green-Wood earlier this month, and I’ve been thinking about this installation ever since. Inside the cemetery’s 1911 Chapel, the Mexican artist Laura Anderson Barbata has created Reposo y Recuerdo, “rest and remembrance,” a participatory ofrenda hung with papel picado, paper marigold garlands and hammocks hand-woven with Mexican artisans using a pre-Columbian technique. Visitors are invited to add a photo, a note, a flower or a small keepsake to the altar, or to decorate a skull of their own. Barbata calls it “a living work of art, shaped by the participation of every visitor.”

On Monday, November 2, the actual Day of the Dead, Green-Wood hosts its free Day of the Dead Family Celebration from 4 to 7 p.m., with crafts, music and performances spread between the Main Entrance meadow and the Chapel. Lingering in that crepuscular glow, as the sun slips behind the hills and the headstones of Green-Wood, is the most fitting way I can think of to close out the holiday.

Mano a Mano at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery

East Village · Friday, October 30 to Sunday, November 1

For many New Yorkers, this is where the weekend truly begins. Mano a Mano, the nonprofit dedicated to Mexican culture in New York, builds a large community ofrenda on the grounds of one of the city’s oldest churches, and anyone is welcome to add to it. Bring a photo of someone you’ve lost, or write them a letter, and leave it among the marigolds and candles. There’s a Mexican folk art and food market all weekend, along with art-making workshops for kids and grown-ups.

The music is what I’m looking forward to most. On Saturday at 3 p.m., singer Guadalupe Peraza performs with Cheo Pardo and Stefan Paolini, with a first look at her new cross-cultural project, Mexamorphosis. On Sunday at 2 p.m., the Indigenous community circle Cetiliztli Nauhcampa performs ceremonial drumming and dance, followed by Mariachi Hidalgo at 3 p.m. At the 4 p.m. closing, the perishable offerings from the ofrenda are shared with everyone there, a lovely way to end the weekend.

Día de los Muertos at the Brooklyn Army Terminal

Sunset Park · Saturday, October 31

This one is close to home. On Halloween afternoon, ArtBuilt and Casa Cultural bring Día de los Muertos to the Arches at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Cass Gilbert’s massive 1919 complex on the Sunset Park waterfront. Expect a shared community altar, crafts, face painting, live music and performances, all in one of the most dramatic industrial spaces in Brooklyn. Sunset Park is home to one of the city’s largest Mexican communities, and it’s a wonderful place to spend the day before or after, with taquerías and panaderías all along Fifth Avenue.

A Holiday for Remembering

Día de los Muertos is celebrated on November 1 and 2, when, by tradition, the souls of the departed return to visit the living. Families build ofrendas, home altars covered in photographs, candles, sugar skulls, favorite foods and bright orange cempásuchil, the marigolds whose color and scent are said to light the way home. Its roots reach back to Indigenous Mexican traditions, later woven together with the Catholic feasts of All Saints and All Souls, and in 2008 UNESCO recognized the celebration as part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage.

And then there’s La Catrina, the elegant skeleton in a wide, feathered hat. She began as a satirical etching by the Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada, poking fun at Mexicans who put on European airs, and was given her name and her famous full-length portrait by Diego Rivera in his 1947 mural Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central. Today she’s the face of the holiday, a reminder that death comes for all of us, no matter how well we dress.

The Beauty of the Ofrenda

What draws me in, every single time, is the ofrenda itself. An altar for the Day of the Dead is built in tiers, rising like a staircase from the earthly to the eternal, and every layer tells a story. Framed photographs of grandparents and old friends gaze out from the top, flanked by flickering candles and glowing glass votives. Below them, sugar skulls grin in candy-colored icing, each one inked with the name of someone dearly departed. There’s pan de muerto dusted in sugar and crowned with crossed bones of dough, a cup of water for thirsty travelers, a dish of salt, sweet fruit, a favorite dish or treat, and sometimes a well-loved trinket that belonged to the one being remembered.

And then there are the marigolds. Mountains of them. Cempásuchil, the flower of the dead, spills over every surface in waves of saffron and tangerine, their petals scattered in paths so the spirits can find their way home by color and scent alone. Overhead, papel picado flutters in fuchsia, lime and turquoise, tissue paper cut into lace so delicate it dances in the faintest breeze, while copal smoke curls slowly toward the ceiling. It’s lavish, luminous and layered with love, a feast for the eyes and the heart, and it turns grief into something gorgeous. I can stand in front of a good ofrenda for a very long time.

Before You Go

Every one of these ofrendas welcomes your memories, so tuck a few photo copies or handwritten notes into your bag before you head out. Dress for the weather, since most of the celebrating happens outdoors, and leave room for pan de muerto. However you spend the weekend, I hope you take a moment to remember the people who made you who you are. That, more than anything, is what this beautiful holiday is about.

About Jason Mezydlo

Jason Mezydlo is Managing Sales Partner at Gordon Realty Partners and has worked in New York City real estate since 2012. A graduate of the Harrington College of Design with a BFA in interior design, he brings a designer’s eye to every search, helping clients see what a space can become before they sign. Jason began his career in commercial leasing, guiding small business owners through site selection, lease negotiation and space planning, before moving into Manhattan’s luxury rental market and home sales across Manhattan and Brooklyn. A longtime Brooklyn resident, he pairs market expertise with a deep love for the city’s history, art and architecture.

347.286.5797 · jason@gordonrealtypartners.com · JasonMezydlo.com · @JasonMezydlo
Gordon Realty Partners · 622 3rd Avenue, New York, NY · NYS Licensed Real Estate Salesperson

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