On Sunday, Marta Valenzuela Moreno began the familiar process of building an altar at the Longmont Museum’s Día de los Muertos exhibit – a tradition she’s been involved in since its birth.
Moreno, a Texas native, moved to Longmont from El Paso in the 1990s.
Upon moving, Moreno was immediately interested in learning how culture was celebrated in Longmont. When the Longmont Museum expanded around that time, Moreno felt like the space should be used “to do some cultural stuff,” she said.
This feeling led Moreno to have a hand in helping the Museum start the altar-building program as part of the Día de los Muertos celebration, she said. Since the program came into effect 21 years ago, Moreno has participated every year by building her own altar.
Growing up in El Paso, Moreno’s father was married three separate times. During each marriage, more and more children were born into the family. In the end, there were a total of 21 Valenzuela children.
Today, Moreno and three of her sisters survive their mother, father and 17 siblings.
Each year, Moreno uses the Museum’s Día de los Muertos exhibit as an opportunity to create a “down to earth, traditional” altar that honors the members of the Valenzuela family who have passed, she said.
Individual photographs of each of the fallen Valenzuelas are the centerpieces of Moreno’s altar. Portraits of Moreno’s parents are strategically positioned front and center of the altar with her siblings’ pictures encircling them.
Along with photographs, Moreno adorns the altar with various objects that represent certain members of the family as well as “the things we grew up with,” she said.
When one of her brothers, David, was alive, Moreno used to call him Al Pacino, a nickname inspired by the way he resembled the actor when he wore a hat, she recalled. Today, Moreno honors her brother’s memory by incorporating his hat in the design of the altar, placing it directly beside his portrait.
A prevalent number of Moreno’s altar decorations are things that once belonged to her mother.
“(In the altar), I put all the dishes and clay pots that my mother used to cook with,” Moreno said.
The presser and rolling pin Moreno’s mother used while cooking corn tortillas are present in the altar, sparking Moreno’s memories of her father insisting that she and her sisters learn how to make tortillas when they were children, she described.
Besides kitchen utensils, Moreno’s mother’s washboard, hair rollers and body oil make up some of the altar’s decorations.
Although Moreno’s parents and siblings “are on my mind all the time,” she said, “(building the altar) brings back traditions, stories and memories of them as we were growing up. It’s a celebration of bringing back our family and remembering their past.”
While only three of Moreno’s 20 siblings remain alive today, the Valenzuela family “goes on and on” to include new generations of Moreno’s own children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, all of whom are spread across the country. For Moreno, teaching young Valenzuelas about their family’s history is crucial.
“It’s really important for them to know who their uncles and aunts were,” Moreno said. “They are the ones who are going to pick up on these traditional memories even though they didn’t know my brothers and sisters.”
Every year, Moreno takes a picture of the finished altar and sends it to her extended family so they can see what she built in remembrance of their family members, she said. This year, she plans on distributing a printed photograph of the final product to everyone with hopes of inspiring her family to join her in the tradition and “start building altars in their homes or in their communities.”
In previous years, Moreno has built her altar alongside friends. Last weekend, she recruited her daughter and granddaughter to help her with this year’s altar.
“I brought them in and said, ‘look, this is what we’re about,’” Moreno said.
Building the altar is a ritualistic and careful process for Moreno as she pursues an altar that, when finished, will honor her family to the highest degree. Each year, she follows a similar design.
On Tuesday this week, Moreno reported that her altar was still not finished, in part because of her decision to include her daughters in the project.
“My daughters help me put stuff on the altar but they also eliminate things,” Moreno said with a laugh, “so I’m going to go add more of the items.”
Moreno is building her altar this week in preparation for Saturday’s Día de los Muertos Family Festival during which members of the Longmont community can visit the Museum and check out the altar exhibit.
On the day of the celebration, members of the Moreno family will be posted by their altar to explain to people what it is and what it stands for, Moreno said. “I will explain how my brothers and sisters and I were brought up.”
Moreno rejects any notion of feeling afraid or embarrassed of honoring her family in this way, she said. “We embrace our family. We rejoice and we celebrate them.”
