MARFA — The first candle at the Día de los Muertos ofrenda at the Capri was lit on Wednesday evening, signaling the start of a days-long community commemoration of loved ones who have passed.
The ofrenda will be open from 7 p.m. to midnight until November 2. The community is invited to honor loved ones by adding offerings — momentos such as photographs, tokens, food, flowers and candles — to the ofrenda. Objects and pictures placed on the ofrenda will be returned at the end of the event.
Vincente Celis, a Marfa resident who has assembled ofrendas at the Capri on and off since 2017, was assisted by Alejandro Cortinas, of Laredo, and José Luis Cortés González, of Guanajuato City, this year. Celis said it’s a community effort to honor loved ones that have departed ahead of us, and a chance to lean on one another for support.
“This is a place to celebrate life and death and invite the community to have a place to come and do it together as a community,” Celis said. “Sometimes it’s very important that when you lose somebody, you have the support of others. And that is the intention.”
This year’s ofrenda holds a special dedication to artist Michael Tracy, who passed away in June in San Ygnacio, Texas, and was a dear friend of Celis’.
Visitors to the ofrenda will enter through an entryway marking the “transition from physical to spiritual,” Celis said, where burning incense acts as a cleansing. The space is decorated with traditional papel picado, flowers and an image of Quetzalcoatl that symbolizes the concept of “becoming better human beings,” Celis said.
The ofrenda has nine elements — four “carpets,” four platforms that are oriented north, south, east and west and a centerpiece. The four elements, air, water, fire and earth are also represented. Each rectangular platform is dedicated to honoring family members, friends, children, pets and the forgotten.
The carpets are made with organic and natural materials and feature Indigenous symbols. One, made of ashes and charcoal, holds the symbol of ometeotl, or duality. Another, milpa, made of corn, beans, pumpkin seeds and chilis, signifies symbiosis and the crossing of different paths. “The elements that each one of these produce help the other grow healthier and get rid of the bugs,” Celis said.
Ashes generated from a recent Ballroom Marfa Supper Club chef, coffee grounds from local cafes and acorns from the garden at the Capri are among local materials included. The ninth, and final, element is an Andean cross covered in celosia and surrounded by marigolds from this season where “the four elements are connected,” Celis said.