The UC Santa Barbara Library presented a display of ofrendas, traditional altars set up to honor the deceased, created by students and staff on Oct. 29. The event was hosted in celebration of Día de los Muertos, a November holiday celebrated across Mexico and other Latin American countries. 

Ofrendas are traditional altars set up to honor the deceased during Día de los Muertos, a November holiday celebrated across Mexico and other Latin American countries. Bryce Hutchins / Daily Nexus

Roughly one week before the event, the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara canceled its Dia de Los Muertos celebrations due to fears of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. According to Noozhawk, other local organizations maintained their scheduled events, as well as several UCSB organizations.  

The presentation was hosted by UCSB Library staff and consisted of 10 altars created at two prior workshops held in the library’s Makerspace. During these workshops, participants were encouraged to bring photos of loved ones and other items for the altars. Around 20 guests were present, including some who had participated in the altar-making workshops. 

The ofrendas were created during two prior workshops, during which participants brought in photos of loved ones and other items to use. Bryce Hutchins / Daily Nexus

Angel Diaz, a UCSB Library curator and subject librarian for Chicana/o studies, began the event by presenting information about Día de los Muertos. She explained the traditional significance of various aspects of the ofrenda display and described different traditions associated with Día de los Muertos. 

Diaz organized a similar event in 2023 with UCSB’s Las Maestras Center, creating an ofrenda workshop inspired by Self Help Graphics & Art’s archive, as well as Chicana/o organizations such as Galería de la Raza in San Francisco. Diaz said she organizes Día de los Muertos ofrenda displays to celebrate her Chicana heritage and to provide a celebration for UCSB students. 

“Culturally for me it’s something that I identify with. Although I didn’t grow up making ofrendas in this way, it’s something that I’ve learned a lot about growing up and in school, and I just think it’s a beautiful tradition,” Diaz said. 

Angela Retamoza, a financial coordinator at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum at UCSB, said that although she also did not grow up making ofrendas, it has become a tradition she embraces every year. Her altar displayed pictures of her late father, along with representations of his favorite foods and logos of his favorite baseball team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

“My dad was so proud of being Mexican, I just know he’d love being part of something like this,” Retamoza said. “I thought of him while I put every piece on”.

Valentina Chavez, a UCSB alum who works as a special collections assistant at the UCSB Library, created two altars. One honored the late David Lynch after the filmmaker’s passing earlier this year, and the other honored Chavez’s two grandmothers, who she said were close friends.

“I included them together, thinking they could be with one another again,” Chavez said. 

A version of this article appeared on p.7 of the Nov. 6 print edition of the Daily Nexus.