2026 Dia de los Muertos Arts Festival

Hey everyone,

The Tulsa Living Arts is doing their annual Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Arts Festival on Nov 6th. I hosted this as an event last year and thought it was very interesting and a good time, so let's go check it out again this year!

General admission to the event is free to the public. I will use the event comments just prior to event start time to coordinate a meeting location.

Tulsa Living Arts Information:

Day of the Dead Arts Festival
Living Arts of Tulsa, in partnership with Casa de la Cultura hosts Tulsa’s annual Día de los Muertos Arts Festival each year in November. Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a celebration of the Latinx heritage honoring loved ones who have passed away. The festival will be held in-person and will also have virtual elements available for the public.

What is Day of the Dead?
Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a celebration held in Mexico and in Central American countries where family members commemorate their ancestors in a way that is different from customs in the United States. This important holiday is held on November 1 and November 2. It is a holiday that mixes parts of Roman Catholicism with Native American traditions that pre-date the arrival of the Spanish in the Americas.

Families often set up offerings or altars called ofrendas, either at home or at the cemetery. Throughout the Dia de los Muertos the living will remember their ancestors by honoring their memory, by feasting on foods (such as pan de muerto or calaveras de azucar), and playing or singing the songs which were favored by their ancestors. Some ofrendas are also decorated with marigolds and calaveras made of papier-mache.

The Altars of Day of the Dead
Day of the Dead celebrations is based on the belief that the souls of the ones gone can come back to this world on these days. The Day of the Dead altars is the most prominent feature in the celebration because they show the souls the way to their home. Altars make the souls (animas) feel welcomed and show them they have not been forgotten.
A traditional altar has some form of the following.

• Picture – A picture of the evoked relative is placed in the altar to make him present and revive his image.
• Flowers – The altar is decorated with fresh flowers as it is believed that their scent will make the returning souls feel welcomed and happy.
• Different Levels – In some areas altars are made with two levels that symbolize heaven and earth; in others they are made with three levels for heaven, purgatory, and earth; and there are places where altars with seven levels are placed, each of these levels represents the steps a soul has to make to get to heaven.
• An Arch – Symbolizes the entrance to the world of the dead. In the places where it’s set, it can be made with flowers.
• Day of the Dead Bread – or pan de muertos is different in every region of the country and one of the most important elements in the altar as it is a fraternal offering to the souls in the Catholic sense.
• Candy Skulls – Sugar, chocolate or amaranth seed skulls represent the death and its every moment presence.
• Candies – Alfeñique (almonds paste) fruits, donkeys, angels and skeletons and all kind of homemade candies are set to treat the children’s souls.
• Ornaments– Candleholders, incense burners, papier mache or clay figurines such as skulls or skeletons doing a certain activity or animals. In some areas, a clay Xoloitzcuintli dog is set in the altar to make the children souls feel good in their arrival to the fete.

I look forward to seeing everyone there!
Ryan