Día de Muertos Celebration 2025

Our courtyard was full of marigolds, candles, pan de muerto, and photographs of the people we love and miss.

A tradition, not a costume

Día de Muertos is not Halloween. At Amistad, we teach it as the Mexican and Latin American tradition it is — a joyful, tender remembrance of the dead, rooted in Indigenous and Catholic practice going back centuries.

Every classroom built its own ofrenda. Families brought photos of grandparents, aunts, cousins, and pets. Older students explained the symbolism to younger ones — the water for thirst after the long journey, the salt for purification, the marigolds whose scent guides the spirits home.

The evening

At sundown, more than 200 family members joined us. There was hot chocolate. There was pan de muerto from a local Oaxacan bakery. There were tears and laughter and children explaining their ofrendas in Spanish to grandparents who had never set foot in the school before.

"I have never felt so at home in a school building." — Grandparent visiting from Michoacán

Gracias to every family who shared a name, a photo, or a story. Los recordamos.