Copyright CBS News
The Fairfield community gathered Thursday night to celebrate the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos, which translates to the Day of the Dead. It serves as a time to remember and honor the dead, and as the tradition teaches, when those we have loved and lost come back to visit. The City of Fairfield invited the community to come together for both remembrance and celebration, featuring a candlelight walk around the city hall pond, people dressed as La Catrina, a community ofrenda, or altar, and activities for the whole family. "It is very important because it lets us continue to bring our beliefs and our culture to our little ones, you know, like we don't let this, you know, just kind of fade away and lose this tradition," said Esmeralda Cervantes with the Solano Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Community members in attendance also wrote the names of their loved ones on a lantern and then placed them into the pond. For some, it marks the milestone holiday when they now honor a departed parent. "My dad, he passed away a couple of months ago, and this is the first time I'm doing this," said one community member with her lantern. The event offered crafts, traditional pan de muerto, and offerings left for the departed. "She would always be there when my dad was busy and working and stuff," said one family, leaving a photo of their grandmother on the ofrenda. It is a tradition passed down for generations. This year, Dia de los Muertos means a bit more. "It's still an amazing thing to be able to bring community together, especially during these times," said Doriss Panduro, a Fairfield city council member. Panduro helped bring the celebration back to Fairfield and says coming together as a community is important and following the pandemic, the Dia de los Muertos celebrations had been cancelled for several years. "Once I was elected, I was like, hey, we need to continue doing this. So this is the second year we've done something. We've done it a little different, but we're here, and it's still an amazing thing to be able to bring community together," said Panduro. Concerns regionwide about ongoing ICE raids have shuttered many events in the Hispanic community this year, but Panduro says it was important the community came together in solidarity on this night. "We can't let fear just run our lives. I know that's hard to say in practice, there are people that are literally living in fear right now as we speak. But I think being able to hold events like this that shows that our community is strong, that we are still united," said Panduro. The holiday is traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2. The ofrenda will remain on display through November 3 to allow more community members time to come and add a photo of their loved one to the altar at the Fairfield Community Center.
