BAY RIDGE, BROOKLYN -- The documentary "Día de Muertos in the City" shines a spotlight on how Mexican communities across the five boroughs are keeping the Dia de los Muertos tradition alive.
The film recently visited the Church of the Good Shepherd in Brooklyn to document dozens of young folkloric dancers and mariachi students performing Xochipitzahuatl, a tradition with pre-Hispanic roots. Blandie Medina, the director for the Ballet Folclórico Hispano Guadalupano explains how the name means "little flower" and that, "this dance is very very important" and cherished in the Huasteca region. The song and dance is a means to connect with and honor ancestors.
Rev. Juan Carlos Ruiz says making those connections is the whole point of Día de los Muertos. "We memorialize those who have come before us but whose relationship is still very much alive and present to us. We do so with music, food and dance. It is a way for us to welcome back those who have passed on," said Ruiz.
The church also has a couple of ofrendas, or altars with offerings for dead ancestors. Ruiz explains that, "up on the altar, you see some images, abuelos, grandparents, people who have passed on. We have the favorite food..." and that "they commune with the living so they partake of this bread. And of course, after, we pick that up from the altar. That's what we share."
Ruiz also says that many ofrendas include images of and offerings for people who have been taken by immigration raids. "That's kind of a death that we are lamenting, that we are suffering."
The film's director Cristy Trabadass thinks Día de los Muertos can offer everyone a little piece, regardless of their culture or religion. She says that today, "in this country, I feel like collectively we're feeling a grief, and whether you are documented or not you're being very impacted by what's going on. And so, something like Día de los Muertos, a tradition that really holds the space to process these feelings and to grieve and to have a ritual to gain some kind of insight or closure, I think is really important in general."