West Valley City • Inside the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, Alejandra Herrera weaved through displays honoring departed loved ones, colorful paper banners called papel picado, and burnt-orange flowers, cempasúchiles, adorning her path.
Her two daughters point to the ofrendas — community-made altars that serve as a welcoming space to the spirits of pets, family members and Mexican actors and comedians who have died.
“Son nuestras raíces mexicanos,” Herrera told them in Spanish. “They’re our Mexican roots.”
On Saturday, the cultural center welcomed Utahns to its 20th annual Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, celebration. The Latin American holiday, celebrated on the first two days of November, was commemorated across Utah at libraries, schools and art museums in St. George, Park City and Orem.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) People walk by various altars during the Dia de los Muertos celebration at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.
Hererra calls Dia de los Muertos a “day to remember those who are no longer with us.”
“It’s different here,” said Herrera, who is of Mexican descent. “But it’s really beautiful that we’re able to show our culture to people from other nationalities.”
Michael Christiansen, bundled for the November chill, sat outside the cultural center at the designated performer check-in booth. He spent part of the afternoon guiding mariachi musicians and dancers, dressed in traditional folklórico skirts, to the performance hall, making sure they were ready for their upcoming show.
Eight groups were scheduled for the day, including Mariachi Royal from West Valley’s Granger High School, and Quetzalcoatl Aztec Dance.
Christiansen, who calls himself a “folklorist by trade,” has been involved in organizing the event since its first year, in 2004. The cultural event, he said, is a way to “perpetuate ongoing traditions.”
The center, Christiansen said, is a “place to come celebrate your own culture, but also learn about the traditions of your neighbors.”
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) An altar is decorated to commemorate deceased Mexican comedians during the Dia de los Muertos celebration at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.
Vendor and artist Angel Walker recalled when she would have to go back to her hometown in New Mexico to celebrate the holiday. In Utah, she has watched celebrations grow. Saturday’s event at the cultural center was expected to draw up to 1,500 people.
“It’s nice to know that there’s a place where like minds can celebrate [the holiday] and understand it,” Walker said.
Walker’s ofrendas, made with reclaimed wood, are “one of a kind” to accommodate the different ways people remember their departed loved ones, she said.
“It is bittersweet to bring back those memories, but I think putting on little things that remind you of them helps,” Walker said.
Antonio Herrera, uncle to one of Mariachi Royal’s violinists, had just finished browsing the various charms and bags on the vendor floor. Some merchandise depicted Catholic iconography, embroidered flowers and calaveras, or decorative skulls and skeletons.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Various calaveritas, or skulls, are displayed during the Dia de los Muertos celebration at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.
Herrera, who is unrelated to Alejandra Herrera, is a huge lucha libre fan and bought a shirt showing his favorite Mexican wrestler.
He has attended the center’s event for the past two years along with his wife and daughter. He remembers putting up a large ofrenda in his hometown of Puebla, Mexico, and visiting the cemetery to decorate family tombs.
Herrera, who has lived in Utah for 20 years, said events like Saturday’s gathering in West Valley City help him remember Mexico.
“Para nosotros, recordar y para ellos, aprender”, he said. “For us, it’s to remember. For [others], it’s to learn.”
