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Libraries across Orange County are putting down their books for a moment to remember the dead.
Editor’s note: This is an occasional series where Voice of OC works with local community photographers to offer residents a first-hand look at the local sites and scenes of Orange County.
This month, parts of libraries were set up as altars — a Latino tradition also known as an ofrenda — for the public in celebration of Día de Los Muertos.
Two public libraries – the El Modena Branch Library in Orange and the Placentia Library District – invited residents to honor deceased loved ones through community altars during the month of October.
“Public libraries especially should be a reflection of the communities they serve,” said Lizette Guerra, librarian with the Orange Public Library who placed photos of her parents on the ofrenda at the El Modena Library.
About 40% of residents in both Orange and Placentia identify as Latino.
“Oftentimes as a child we go on these field trips to museums, and you’re looking at these Greek and Roman statues and colonial paintings, and it has nothing to do with our experiences,” she said. “And so it’s nice to walk into a space that does reflect your culture or your experience.”
At the El Modena Branch Library, residents were able to add photographs of deceased loved ones to the community ofrenda throughout the month of October.
“For a lot of us Latinos, death is almost inverted,” Guerra said.
“We embrace it as a fact of life.”
The Placentia Library invited the public to their community altar starting on Oct. 21.
“The library is a safe place, and we want everyone to feel welcome to celebrate their culture,” said Yesenia Baltierra, Assistant Library Director at the Placentia Library District.
“We’re a place for everyone. That’s why it’s very important for us to allow everyone to feel included in what we do in the library.”
Dating back thousands of years, the custom of creating altars combines Catholic traditions and pre-colonial Aztec rituals to remember the dead.
“Both of them were very devout Catholics. My father would even make the clothes for the priests at his church,” said Jeanette Contreras, Library Director at the Placentia Library District. “My father was the reason why my family made it to this country.”
Día de Los Muertos is celebrated by Latinos such as the first two days of November in Mexico, the United States, and in other Latin American countries such as Guatemala, Ecuador, El Salvador, Bolivia, and Spain.
Latinos memorialize their loved ones by constructing altars with photographs of the deceased, food and unique offerings that relate to the person’s life.
Today, residents can celebrate Día de Los Muertos at the Roosevelt-Walker Community Center or the Santa Ana Cemetery, among other places.
Family members and friends are welcome to build personal ofrendas on gravesites.
Erika Taylor is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow and photojournalist. You can find her on Instagram @camerakeepsrolling or email at etaylor@voiceofoc.org
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