11/02/2001
Reuters English News Service
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.

For Mexicans, the festival has taken on a new meaning in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack that killed more than 4,000 people, including many Mexicans.

"The World Trade Center was a beautiful place to us," said Isabel Escamilla, a Mexican immigrant who helped organize this year's Day of the Dead festival at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in New York City's Bronx neighborhood.

"Many of our countrymen worked there, and the area around was also a great source of jobs," she said.

Mexicans may number up to 500,000 in New York City, and are among the city's youngest immigrant groups. The Mexican consulate listed 16 Mexican nationals as missing after the World Trade Center attacks, although some community groups put the number at 23.

Many Mexicans traditionally honor the dead by erecting both personal and public altars, strewing them with marigolds and chrysanthemums, candles, fruit, bread, incense and bottles of alcohol.

At the Immaculate Conception in the Bronx, the altar included not only traditional Day of the Day bread, fruit and flowers, but also a can of Pepsi and several cardboard pumpkins.

A large cardboard sign and a small American flag in the middle of the display said the altar was dedicated to those killed in the World Trade Center.

The rituals are meant to lure the souls of the dead back to earth for a meal with their favorite food and drink, said Diego Medina, a Mexican immigrant who works with the Asociacion Tepeyac, a center that helps migrants adjust to life in the United States.

"It is a party where the dead are remembered, where we draw them out of our hearts, our minds, our souls," he said.

Asociacion Tepeyac, in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, also marked the Day of the Dead festival.

A child's drawing of the Twin Towers was at the center of an altar at La Palapa, a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan's East Village, which is co-owned by Barbara Sibley, who was raised in Mexico.

Marigolds, candles and calla lilies surrounded the picture, and a glass of water and a glass of tequila awaited the returning souls. "The dead arrive very thirsty," she said.