RALEIGH, NC – The earthy smoke of Mexican copal incense floats over the entrance of Historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina. Peter Marin said it’s a way to keep the bad vibes away and invite the good ones to Día de Oakwood, a massive Day of the Dead art installation and festival here.

“It’s like cleaning your house before the guests arrive,” says Marín, a Mexican-American artist who now calls North Carolina home and helped organize the weeklong festival.

“When the Spanish arrived in the Americas, it was very expensive to import frankincense and myrrh. So they started using Copal in religious ceremonies.”

Marín said this is an example of syncretism, everything coming together. That’s as true in pre-Columbian Mexico as it is in this 155-year-old cemetery, where an indigenous Mexican tradition finds a home not far from the burial sites of Confederate generals.

The ceremonial copal — with the help of hundreds of glowing cempasúchil flowers, of course — will attract the spirits of the dead on November 1 and 2, when Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico and the United States.

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“Día de Oakwood” began with a small meal at a local Mexican restaurant nearly ten years ago. Ofrendas were built for Día de los Muertos to invite the dead back so they could visit those they left behind on Earth.

The restaurant’s owner, Angela Salamanca, then moved into the Oakwood cemetery office, and what happened next surprised her.

“You need to come and see what happened,” he recalled the cemetery director saying. “All these people are bringing up photography.”

Over time, more and more people from Raleigh, including those who had never celebrated Día de Los Muertos, began leaving images of their dead loved ones on Salamanca’s agenda.

“Someone even called me and asked me to print a picture of a World War II veteran buried in the cemetery here and put it in the ofrenda,” Salamanca said. “And when I came back, of course, there were 20 extra photos.”

She continued: “Being able to hold these things for others helps with my pain and process.”

Aaron Sanchez-Guerra for NPR. /

This year, Día de Oakwood has increased in scale: ten altar offerings, or ofrendas, featuring pieces made by students from six different schools under Marín’s direction.

Longleaf School of the Arts presented an altar to the 100 people who died in Hurricane Helene, which devastated Western North Carolina. Raleigh Charter High School has created a public program for deceased pets.

Marín has previously carried out renovations in museums and galleries. But doing it in a cemetery felt more authentic to the tradition, he said.

“The museum is a good place, but it takes it out of context, doesn’t it?” said Marín. “Because there’s something about it being in place, which is where it happens. This is the place for it.”

For him, it’s about a cultural appreciation of a thriving tradition of mourning that’s rooted in a growing Southern city.

“People are here because they want to learn,” Marín said. “If we don’t do something with this clarity, we will be doomed. If we close ourselves… se acabó.”

“Se acabó” he says. “Finished.”

For Marin, it’s about keeping the door open to tradition and to each other.

“The only thing that binds us is absolutely death, and if we can celebrate death together, we will have taken a huge step.”

This story was produced in collaboration between NPR and Religion News Service.

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