LEAPS students join Mexicantown organizations in Detroit for Dia de los Muertos celebration
Students helped artist Elton Monroy Duran construct an ofrenda, an altar decorated with photos, candles, food, drinks, and personal belongings of deceased loved ones to honor them.
LEAPS students were honored to participate in the 2025 Dia de los Muertos celebration organized in collaboration by Mexicantown Mercado, Plaza del Sol, Corpus Art, and Matrix Theater Company. El Central reports that the Aztecs and Nahua peoples held month-long rituals to honor their ancestors. These traditions were later blended with the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
“It’s a fusion of the Indigenous and the Conquerors,” LEAPS Community Engagement Specialist Djennin Casab told El Central of the celebration as we know it today.
For their part, LEAPS students helped artist Elton Monroy Duran construct the event’s centerpiece: a towering seven-layer ofrenda, an altar displayed inside Mexicantown Mercado. Each layer represents a step that a soul must take to reach eternal rest. The altar was adorned with candles, sugar skulls, food offerings, photographs, and of course, marigolds—each object placed to celebrate and honor the life and memory of a departed loved one.
