{"id":319169,"date":"2026-11-01T23:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T23:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/319169\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T23:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T23:38:07","slug":"photos-philadelphia-celebrates-dia-de-los-muertos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/319169\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: Philadelphia celebrates D\u00eda de los Muertos"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

D\u00eda de Los Muertos<\/a>, or the Day of the Dead, brought thousands of people together across Philadelphia on Sunday to celebrate the traditional Mexican holiday.\n<\/p>\n

The Fleisher Art Memorial<\/a> marked the occasion in South Philadelphia with events throughout the day<\/a>, culminating in the procession to the ofrenda<\/a> within the sanctuary.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an event that sort of caps off 365 days a year of trying to make sure that this place is a safe place, a welcoming place, and a celebratory place,\u201d Monica Zimmerman, Fleisher\u2019s executive director, said. \u201cFor not just our closest neighbors who can walk here from Bella Vista and Queen Village, but for all the immigrant communities that are part of the diaspora around South Philadelphia.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

The holiday is celebrated on Nov. 1 and 2, and traces back thousands of years to when the Aztecs made offerings to deceased ancestors as part of death rituals. After Spanish colonization brought Catholicism to Mexico, the celebration morphed to incorporate Catholic beliefs and practices.\n<\/p>\n

Volunteer Leticia Nixon was born in Mexico City, and said what stands out most about the celebrations is that it\u2019s done with the community in mind.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, my parents didn\u2019t instill in me this tradition,\u201d Nixon said. \u201cSo it was when I moved to Philadelphia 41 years ago that I learned what an altar is, the elements that the altar includes, and I\u2019m very happy to be here.\u201d
\n\"LeticiaOver the past 14 years, Leticia Nixon has made a point to volunteer for the Fleisher Art Memorial\u2019s D\u00eda de los Muertos celebration, which is connected with multiple events throughout South Philadelphia. (Cory Sharber\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

In addition to Nixon learning the holiday\u2019s traditions, she said the community-led effort has helped educate people on \u201cthe real meaning of the Day of the Dead.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe in life after death, and we honor our ancestors, which is a common belief all around the world,\u201d Nixon said. \u201cEspecially for people from Africa, the Native American[s], they have been in connection with the knowledge and legacy of their ancestors.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8383,732,69,71,70,645],"class_list":["post-319169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-dia-de-los-muertos","tag-halloween","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-south-philadelphia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}