Día de los Muertos As October turns to November, marigold petals (cempasúchil) appear on West Valley doorsteps and windowsills. Sugar skulls and family photographs fill home altars, and the smell of pan de muerto drifts from bakeries. For families with deep roots in Mexican and Mexican-American culture, this isn’t decoration. It’s devotion. The Phoenix metro, including the West Valley’s significant Hispanic communities in Avondale, Glendale and Goodyear, has embraced the holiday publicly and joyfully. This month, the 15th Annual MIKIZTLI: Día de los Muertos PHX Festival returns October 24th at the Arizona Center in downtown
Phoenix. The free, family-friendly event features mariachi, ballet folklórico, 8-foot animated skeleton puppets, a community ofrenda, food trucks and a closing procession and dance. For residents encountering the holiday for the first time through neighbors or coworkers, it’s worth understanding what it is before assuming you already know. It is a genuine, ancient act of love, the idea that remembering the people we’ve lost keeps them, in some real way, present.
Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is observed November 1st and 2nd. It aligns with the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day but is rooted in indigenous Aztec traditions stretching back thousands of years. On these days, the boundary between the living and the dead grows thin, and the spirits of loved ones return to visit. Families build ofrendas (altars) with photographs, favorite foods and marigolds, whose strong scent is said to guide spirits home. It is a celebration, holding grief and joy at the same time.
The West Valley is lucky to have it.
October 2026 5
Estrella Publishing - CB Living magazine
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