How To Celebrate Dia de los Muertos (A Brief Guide For Non-Latinos)

First off, it’s not an excuse to drink copious amounts of tequila at your local dive bar.

All Souls Parade Tucson

The second day of November is celebrated in the Catholic Church as “All Souls Day.” In Latin America, the day transformed into a mix of European and Indigenous traditions of remembering the dead called “Dia de los Muertos,”  In recent years, the aesthetics of the holiday have been rapidly appropriated outside of Latino culture and taken out of context

Maria Cotera is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. She spoke with WDET’s Amanda LeClaire. Cotera says there are many ways for how non-Latinos to respectfully observe Dia de los Muertos. 

 

Author

  • Amanda LeClaire is an award-winning journalist and managing editor and lead reporter of WDET's new environmental series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project, as well as WDET's CuriosiD podcast. She was the host of WDET’s CultureShift and a founding producer of the station’s flagship news talk show *Detroit Today*. Amanda also served as a Morning Edition host at WDET and previously worked as a host, audio and video producer, and reporter for Arizona Public Media.