Día de los Muertos community celebration at El Pueblo History Museum

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- The El Pueblo History Museum is hosting a Día de los Muertos celebration. Tuesday, members of the community are invited to honor, remember, and celebrate loved ones who have passed away.

Día de los Muertos, known as Day of the Dead, is celebrated throughout Central and South America.

The El Pueblo History Museum invites the community to make paper flowers, decorate sugar skulls, and create luminarias. Those items will be used to decorate the community ofrenda and the entranceway at the end of the night.

An ofrenda is an altar dedicated to loved ones. In Mexican culture, they're traditionally adorned with photographs, personal belongings, candles, sugar skulls, and marigold flowers.

Roman Del Castillo, former Chicano Studies Professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, told 9News the altars are a chance for families to "get together and remember and talk about that person; believing that the spirit is there with them just to say 'Hello, how are you doing? We remember you. We'll never forget you.'"

The museum says the community ofrenda is open to anyone who wishes to add a photograph, letter, or offering. The ofrenda is located in the El Pueblo History Museum's atrium. It will be up through the first week of November.

The Día de los Muertos celebration will also feature live performances by local artists and drinks.

The event begins at 5 p.m. For more information, click here.