.
All content included on this site such as text, graphics and images is protected by U.S and international copyright law.
The compilation of all content on this site is the exclusive property of the site copyright holder.
Dia de los Muertos, Part Two,
at the New York Botanical Garden
Tuesday, 29 September 2026
Today is the media preview for Dia de los Muertos at the New York Botanical Garden. It will open to the public on Saturday, October 3rd and run through November 2nd (though there were people with toddlers and young children exploring the event today. Cannot really close the Everett Children's Adventure Garden where the event is being held.)
There's so much to see that I had to make two entries. You can see my other entry here. That's the entry where I explored the ofrenda, the community altar of remembrance, and the brightly decorated calaveras, skulls and skeletons.
Now I will seek the alebrijes, the friendly animal spirit guides (based on wildlife
found at the botanical gardens) that help departed loved ones find their way home
for a brief annual visit. Here at NYBG it will be for a month, until November 2nd.
We walk down the path with colorful papel picado fluttering overhead.
copyright Wm Woodall, all rights reserved
I especially had to smile at the "papel picado" shadows cast onto the path.
And if the papel picado intrigue you, simple directions are provided on a sign by the path.
Though I don't think it is quite as simple (fold tissue paper 4 times, then snip) as suggested.
Alebrije have an interesting back story. It is a nonsense word with no literal translation, invented in 1936 by papier-mâché artist Pedro Linares López in Mexico City. Very ill, he had vivid hallucinations of a strange forest where multicolored animals—such as a donkey with butterfly wings and a rooster with bull horns—shouted the word alebrije. His work caught the attention of Frida Kahlo. The alebrije here at the New York Botanical Garden were drawn by a Mexican graphic designer, illustrator, street and graffiti artist Edgar 'Saner' Flores and are based in wildlife found at the new York Botanical Garden.
I have seen rabbits and black squirrels here, and I have been told there are coyotes. Don't know
about tortoises (though I'm sure there likely to be turtles in the various natural pond water features.
Whatever. There is a tortoise calavera, with skeletal skull and feet, and colorful upper shell.
And sort of floating in the air, a colorful tortoise alebrijes with rider, who is holding a waterlily.
Birds would be excellent guides, well able to fly from place to place. A hawk,
for daytime. And an owl for after dark, at night. This one has a lantern? Think so.
A rabbit, clutching a flower. It looks, to me, somehow young and perhaps a little puzzled.
There are coyotes in the garden, and around BelleWood Gardens also.
They do howl sitting with their heads up as I tend to envision wolves.
Helps the sound better carry as they communicate to others. And to us.
Marigolds, more marigolds, so many marigolds! Why marigolds?
Call them cempasúchil (flor de cempasúchil). Join them with calaveras, feel comforted
their bright color and strong scent help guide spirits of the dead back to their loved ones.
Dia de los Muertos, indeed
And - so appropriate for a botanical garden! - the many pots of other colorful plants
There are native New York asters, their clusters of purple, narrow petaled flowers.
I'm quite taken with this Coleus scutellarioides, probably the cultivar 'Fishnet Stockings'.
There are multiple strings of ristras, dried chile peppers said to bring health and good luck.
Who migrates? Birds, many different birds. And - ready for this? - Monarch butterflies.
Those in eastern North America have a winter home in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico.
Indigenous peoples in Mexico see an association between the monarch butterflies return
during the holiday season with the return of ancestral spirits.
copyright Wm Woodall, all rights reserved
A calaveras with butterfly wings at Dia de los Muertos
at the New York Botanical Garden. Can they fly away . . .
Is pumpkin spice over? Apparently food brands are betting on a new fall flavor vying for our dollars – apple. Apple-flavored foods have also made their way into grocery aisles, with limited-release launches from popular brands. And the botanical garden is right up front with these trend setters. A modest food stand outside the children's garden has
Apple spice donuts. Nicely finished with a flavorful glaze, topped with a slice of dried apple,
elegantly decorated with a tiny viola flower. My friend picked off the flower, enjoyed the rest.
So much to see and enjoy. We've worked up an appetite, walking, talking, enjoying. Time for lunch at the Pine Tree cafe. Then back across the George Washington Bridge, heading west, back to where we had met up. He went his way. I stopped at Shoprite on my way home. At checkout they had - ready for this - shopping bags with Dia de los Muertos theme! Since I had bought more than fit into the one bag I'd brought into the store I just had to purchase one of these appropriately themed bags.
and on a different day
even the labels on jars of Spanglish asadero seasonings pay homage to calaveras.
Open Tuesday through Sunday, the Garden is easily reached by car or by MetroNorth with a stop just across from the Mosholu entry gate.
If you have any comments or questions, you can e-mail me: jgglatt@gmail.com
Back to September
Back to the main Diary Page