NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Nov. 1 is known as “Day of the Dead.” In Mexico, it is known as “Dia De Los Muertos,” and in Haiti, it is known as “Fet Gede.”
WGNO’s Kenny Lopez went to the New Orleans Healing Center where people are celebrating!
Through altars, candles, flowers, photographs and other offerings, it’s a day to celebrate the dead!
“This is considered the day when the veil between the living and the dead is most diffused and we get to welcome back our beloved dead and our ancestors and honor them and party with them basically,” said Voodoo Priestess Sallie Ann Glassman.
The celebration at the New Orleans Healing Center is meant to be lively with singing, dancing and drumming.
“So, people can realize this isn’t a terrifying ghoulish thing, in fact, it is healing and beautiful,” she said.
For Glassman, she helps navigate the space between the living and the dead. She says “Day of the Dead” celebrations are healing for those who are mourning.
“We look to our ancestors for guidance and meaning to get help navigating an unbalanced and suffering world,” Glassman said.
These elaborate and beautiful altars are a huge part of the celebration.
“Altars stand as crossroads between the visible and the invisible,” she said.
And the offerings people bring to the altars serve as little mementos for those who are no longer with us in the physical world.
“They are expressions of powerful love, faith and sense of spirit,” she said.
Glassman also said when loved ones die, they send little messages in any shape or form. It is important to stop and really take in that message and appreciate the message they are sending us from beyond.
“It is a beautiful reminder that they don’t stop. That they are still with us, and we carry them in our memories in our lives as we walk forward,” Glassman said.
There will also be a “Dia De Los Muertos” parade Thursday night at 7 p.m. starting on Royal Street and ending at the St. Claude Cemetery.
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