Since 2018, Green-Wood has commissioned artists to create a large-scale community altar in the Cemetery’s Historic Chapel in honor of the holiday each year. This year’s altar, created by Raul Ayala, pays homage to the traditions of the Ecuadorian Andes which celebrates November 2nd as Día de los Difuntos (Day of the Deceased or All Soul’s Day).

Karanakuy is a Kichwa word that embodies the concept of giving as an act of reciprocity. The altar weaves together elements that invite visitors to engage through sight, touch, and taste, utilizing plants, fruits, and culinary traditions from the Andes. Traditions associated with Día de los Difuntos includes two distinctive culinary items: guaguas de pan, sweet bread figures shaped and decorated like babies, and colada morada (or its fermented version, yana api), a thick beverage that is made with fruit and spices and used in rituals and celebrations tied to the agricultural calendar.

Visitors are encouraged to craft their own offerings for the altar using fondant shaped into doll-like figures, inspired by guaguas de pan, as well as leave personal items, such as mementos and photos, in honor of their departed loved ones. The urn at the center of the Chapel will be filled with yana api on October 28th, allowed to ferment, and served on November 1st during Green-Wood’s Day of the Dead Family Celebration.

Raul Ayala is a visual artist and educator focused on mural production, drawing, and public art. His work attempts to question normative historical parameters and coloniality through a juxtaposition of a broad spectrum of primary sources, usually aiming for a collaborative and co-creative process. He was the recipient of the 2014 New York Foundation of the Arts’ Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program Award, the 2015 Create Change Commissions Artist Award of The Laundromat Project, and the 2016 Rauschenberg Artist as Activist Residency, among others. Ayala currently teaches drawing and painting at Rutgers University.