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The historic Hollywood Forever Cemetery began to open its grounds to Dia De Los Muertos celebrations over one hundred tears ago. For just one night each year, the tombstones along its main roads are transformed into spectacular shrines honoring the dead. Friends and relatives talk about the altars they’ve created and share their memories of the departed. These colorful, glowing constructions are bedecked with candles, marigolds, sugar skulls, and personal artifacts. The latter range from photographs and childhood toys to favorite clothing and delicacies.  Each altar is a celebration of a life, complete with gifts, food, and tales of glories past -  Oingo Boingo’s song, “Dead Man’s Party”, comes to mind. Participants have less than twenty-four hours to assemble the monuments, which must be torn down at the end of the seven-hour event. In addition to admiring these temporary sanctums, thousands of visitors make their way down dimly-lit paths to feast on traditional Latin American cuisine and check out art exhibits inside the main mausoleum, musical performances, costumed processions, and choreographed Aztec dance numbers.

Words and photos by Zoetica Ebb

 

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