Day of the Dead comes to life with vibrant Tri-Cities celebrations
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- Einan's funeral home hosted a public Dia de los Muertos altar and Spanish mass.
- Families placed photos, marigolds and favorite foods on ofrendas at the altar.
- Einan's plans to expand events with churches and cemeteries for future masses.
A Pasco funeral home opened its doors for Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, with a community altar and Spanish mass.
On Sunday, Einan’s at Hillcrest Pasco invited people to take part in a lively, joyful celebration of the dead. The funeral home is located at 224 S. 24th Ave.
It was one of a few local celebrations for Day of the Dead, but the first organized by a funeral home in the Tri-Cities.
The majority of the families served by the Einan’s at Hillcrest Pasco location are Hispanic.
The event included a Catholic service in Spanish by deacon Abraham Valdovines from St. Patrick Catholic Church in Pasco, a screening of the Disney-Pixar movie “Coco,” and treats like hot chocolate and pan de muerto, a traditional sweet bread.
Connecting with the past
There was a large public altar for ofrendas, or offerings.
Participants wrote names of their loved ones on a small square piece of paper and placed it on the altar with an individual marigold. Some brought photos of the person who died and their favorite food or an item to remember them by.
Kayla Heredia told the Tri-City Herald that she’d been looking for a local event to celebrate the day with her daughter Maryla and stepdaughter Aubrey, both 8.
Most of Heredia’s family lives in California, so she was excited to attend the celebration at Einan’s at Hillcrest and share Day of the Dead traditions with the two girls.
Walking up to the altar, Aubrey added a framed photo of her mother who died three years ago. Kayla placed a photo of her grandmother as a young woman next to it.
While staff has had the idea to host a Día de los Muertos event for some time, it wasn’t until after Einan’s Funeral Homes acquired Hillcrest Funerals and Cremation in September last year that the idea became a real possibility.
Pasco location manager Marce Garcia-Mendoza said that usually there are very few public events for Día de los Muertos, because celebrations get incorporated into Halloween and people have private celebrations at home.
“It doesn’t need to be only Hispanic or Catholic people you celebrate,” she said.
Holley Sowards, director of operations for Einan’s Funeral Homes, decorated a section of the altar with photos of her grandmother, a close family friend who died last week, and her father. Next to the photo of her grandmother, Sowards placed pieces of frosting-covered lemon pound cake and a cappuccino from Starbucks, two of her favorites.
Garcia-Mendoza said that in the future, Einan’s would like to partner with cemeteries and Catholic churches to expand the event.
She described how growing up in Mexico, cemeteries get transformed from scary, dark spaces into colorful and vibrant places for the community to visit loved ones who had died.
The plan for next year is to have a dedication mass take place at St. Patrick Catholic Church before people are invited to head to the funeral home for festivities.
The traditions around Day of the Dead originated in Mexico, when the Aztecs honored the dead using skulls.
Aztec practices later became fused with the Catholic holidays All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day after Spanish conquistadors invaded America.
During festivals in Spain, families decorated grave sites, brought food to cemeteries and lined the way for the dead to return to their families using candles and marigolds.
