Celebrate Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) at the Museum of International Folk Art

October 3rd, 2019

(Santa Fe, New Mexico) – The Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) announces its annual Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration on Sunday, October 27, 2019, 1 - 4 p.m., at MOIFA on Museum Hill.

Activities will include decorating calaveras de azúcar (sugar skulls), making papel picado y flores (cut paper banners and flowers), and sampling traditional Day of the Dead treats like pan de muerto and hot chocolate. Listen to traditional New Mexican musical performances by Rob Martinez at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. and watch Los Niños perform traditional dances at 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Come dressed as a calaca (skeleton), and bring flowers, candles and/or a memento representing deceased loved ones to add to our community ofrendas (altars).

Admission to the museum is free courtesy of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation Fund for Museum Education.

Day of the Dead Community Celebration
Location: 706 Camino Lejo, Museum of International Folk Art, on Museum Hill
Date: October 27, 2019
Time: 1 - 4 p.m. 

About Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
Día de los Muertos is one of the most important annual celebrations in Mexico and in communities in the United States where there are Méxicanos, Mexican Americans, and Chicanos who identify with their cultural heritage.

Preparation for Día de los Muertos festivities begin in mid-October and continue through to the two days of the fiesta, November 1 (All Saint’s Day) and November 2 (All Soul’s Day). Children are honored on November 1 and adults on November 2. For these dates, altars are erected in homes and/or Day of the Dead community events in the United States, and people make special visits or pilgrimages to the cemetery. Often altars are decorated with photographs of the deceased, marigold flowers or cempasúchil (sem-pah-soo’-cheel), petate mats, candles, personal mementos, pan de muerto, papel picado (paper cut-outs), miniature toys, food, water, salt, and kopal (resinous) incense.​​​​​​​

About the Museum of International Folk Art:
The Museum of International Folk Art is a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, under the leadership of the Board of Regents for the Museum of New Mexico. Programs and exhibits are generously supported by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, through the generous support of donors.

Founded in 1953 by Florence Dibell Bartlett, the Museum of International Folk Art’s mission is to shape a humane world by connecting people through creative expression and artistic traditions. The museum holds the world’s largest international folk art collection of more than 150,000 objects from six continents and over 150 nations, representing a broad range of global artists whose artistic expressions make Santa Fe an international crossroads of culture. For many visitors, fascination with folk art begins upon seeing the whimsical toys and traditional objects within the Girard Collection. For others, the international textiles, ceramics, carvings and other cultural treasures in the Neutrogena Collection provide the allure.  The museum’s historic and contemporary Latino and Hispano folk art collections, spanning the Spanish Colonial period to modern-day New Mexico, reflect how artists respond to their time and place in ways both delightful and sobering. In 2010, the museum opened the Mark Naylor and Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience, where exhibitions encourage visitors to exchange ideas on complex issues of human rights and social justice.

706 Camino Lejo, on Museum Hill in Santa Fe, NM 87505. (505) 476-1200. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, May through October; closed Mondays November through April, closed Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Events, news releases and images about activities at the Museum of International Folk Art and other divisions in the Department of Cultural Affairs can be accessed at media.newmexicoculture.org.