There is a version of the Day of the Dead that most people outside the tradition have seen: painted faces, a procession, music, movement. There is a second half that is much quieter and, if you only do one, is arguably the more affecting of the two. It happens on a patch of grass at 26th and Harrison and it consists almost entirely of people sitting beside things they have built.
The quietest event in a city is often the one worth going to, and it usually lasts one night only. Tell Karpo what is happening near you and get the parts that do not make the listings.
What the Festival of Altars is
On the night of 2 November, community members fill Garfield Park with personalised altars to people they have lost. These are not exhibits. They are made by families and individuals for specific dead relatives, set up on the ground, and sat with for the evening.
Punctuating them are around six large-scale installations created by local groups and artists, which are the closest thing the evening has to public art and which tend to address collective rather than personal loss — a neighbourhood, a community, a year's worth of grief. Between them, the two scales are the whole point: hundreds of small private acts, and a handful of large public ones, in the same field.
How to read an ofrenda
Knowing the vocabulary transforms this from looking at decorated tables into reading something. An ofrenda is built to receive a returning visitor and every element has a function.
Photographs identify who is being welcomed. Marigolds — cempasúchil — mark the path with colour and scent, which is why petals are often scattered leading up to the altar rather than only placed on it. Copal incense purifies the air. Water is set out because the journey is long and the traveller will be thirsty. Salt preserves. Candles light the way, and their number and placement are frequently deliberate. Food and drink are the things that specific person liked: a particular bread, a brand of cigarettes, a bottle of something, a football shirt.
Once you know that, the altars stop being generically beautiful and become extremely specific. The detail that lands hardest is almost always the smallest and most ordinary object on the table.
- Garfield Park, 26th and Harrison Streets, in the Mission
- Held on the night of 2 November, alongside the 24th Street procession
- Hundreds of personal altars plus around six large-scale installations by local groups
- Free to attend, no ticket and no entrance
- Go early in the evening for space and light; the park fills after the procession passes
Timing it against the procession
The two events run the same night and most people do both, which produces a predictable rhythm. Earlier in the evening the park is calmer, the altars are finished and lit, and there is room to walk between them slowly. Once the procession has moved through the neighbourhood, the park fills considerably.
The recommendation, if you want to actually see the altars rather than the backs of people looking at them, is to come to the park first and join the procession afterwards, which is the reverse of what most visitors do. The altars are also better before the crowd because the light is entirely candlelight, and a hundred people with phones out changes that.
There is also a practical reason to arrive while it is still being built, if you can. The hours before dark are when families are setting up, and the park in that state is a different and quieter thing again — less a display than a workshop, with people carrying boxes across the grass and arranging objects they have carried from home. Nobody minds you being there, and it makes clear how much labour sits behind an evening that looks effortless once the candles are lit.
How to behave, plainly
This is somebody's grief laid out on the grass, and the etiquette follows from that single fact. Do not touch anything. Do not step over or between altars to get a better angle. Do not move an object to see the one behind it. Keep your voice at the level of the people around you, which will be low.
Photograph the installations and the general scene if you like; ask before photographing a person, and think carefully before photographing a family sitting with an altar at all. Children are welcome and this is a good thing to bring them to, provided the running is done elsewhere.
If you want to participate rather than observe, the straightforward and always-appropriate thing is to bring marigolds. Beyond that, ask the organisers rather than assuming — this is a tradition with rules, and the community running it is not difficult to reach.
One more thing that surprises first-time visitors: it is not a sombre event in the way a memorial is. People laugh at their altars, talk about the person the objects belonged to, and greet neighbours across the grass. Grief and cheerfulness sitting in the same place at the same time is the whole philosophical position of the holiday, and it is much easier to understand standing in that park than reading about it.
Getting there
Garfield Park sits at 26th and Harrison, a few blocks south-east of 24th Street Mission BART, which is the sensible way to arrive. Streets in the area are affected on the night and parking in the Mission is difficult at the best of times.
Dress warmer than the daytime suggests. This is standing and walking slowly outdoors, in San Francisco, at night, in November, and the Mission's reputation for warmth applies to the afternoon rather than to ten in the evening. Afterwards, 24th Street is two blocks north with the best late food in the neighbourhood.
Practical notes
The Festival of Altars takes place at Garfield Park, 26th and Harrison Streets in the Mission District, on the night of 2 November, alongside the Día de los Muertos procession on 24th Street. Community members build hundreds of personal ofrendas on the grass, punctuated by around six large-scale installations from local groups. It is free and open to anyone. Arrive early in the evening for space, quiet and candlelight before the procession crowd arrives. Do not touch or step between altars, ask before photographing people, and take BART to 24th Street Mission rather than driving.
Tags: #SanFrancisco #DiaDeLosMuertos #MissionDistrict #FreeThingsToDo #GarfieldPark #DayOfTheDead #Ofrenda #SFEvents #Community #SFOnABudget #Altars #ThingsToDoSF #Marigolds #Remembrance
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