Day of the Dead

The current Day of the Dead exhibit at the National Museum of Mexican Art (1852 West 19^th Street in Chicago) is “Camino a casa: Coming Home on the Day of the Dead.” Held annually for 23 years, this has become the largest Day of the Dead exhibition in the United States. This year there will be 12 altars or ofrendas, by 20 artists, including a special ofrenda created for Arturo Velasquez Sr. (1915-2009) and an ofrenda created by the acclaimed author Sandra Cisneros as a tribute to her parents.

In my estimation the NMMA’s annual collection of altars to the dead offers one of Chicago’s great meditations with multiple layers of meaning, the least not being a contemplation on mortality in the season best suited for it. The exhibit runs through December 13. Try to visit it around All Hallow’s Eve, when it is said that veil between realities grows thin, that the living and the dead might commune.

Before leaving the Pilsen neighborhood have a meal at Neuvo Leon, the classic neighborhood restaurant at 1515 West 18^th Street.There's nothing like a savory meal after confronting motality to affirm Life and living.