So excited to be bringing this program back to our Central Texas Neighbors for the 2nd year in a row! Save the date on your calendar and stay tuned for volunteer opportunities leading up to the event!
Friday, October 27th
3pm-5pm Family Friendly After school activities in the Courtyard!
Snacks and drinks provided!
Thank you to our activities sponsor: Austin Creative Reuse and our drinks and snacks sponsor, YWCA Greater Austin Board Co-Chair, Laura Razo & Jaime!
5pm-8pm We move into the big resource fair area and celebrate community with music, comida, costume contest, raffle prizes and our mural unveiling!
Thank you to our muralist: Candy Kuo for her vision and leadership. Thank you to our wall sponsor, Planned Parenthood of Texas and to our mural and event sponsors: HEB (#helpinghere), Dell ERG Latino Connection and more!
Before Photo of the Wall
Thank you to our early sponsors for this project:
- Dell ERG Latino Connection - Community Partner
- HEB #helpinghere - Mural Sponsor
- Planned Parenthood, Texas - Wall Sponsor
- de Nada Cantina - Gift Cards!
- Austin Creative Reuse - Activities Sponsor
- Future Front Texas - Marketing & Event Sponsor
Interested in being a Mural or Mural Unveiling Event Sponsor? Learn more by emailing Annie@YWCAaustin.org
- concerned citizen $100
- date night denizen $250
- event supporter $500
- major marigold magic $1000
- community partner $2500
- mural sponsor $5000+
Donate to this project by visiting our secure online donation webpage:
Donation Form (ywcaaustin.org)
(Make sure you select Dia de los Muertos 2023 as the campaign!)
Check out our murals and mural unveiling events from last year's Community Mural Project!
Monday, October 31
Garza Independent High School, 1600 Chicon St.
Tuesday, November 1
Austin Pets Alive Resell Thrift Store, 5102 Clarkson
Wednesday, November 2
Planned Parenthood, 1823 E. 7th St.
YWCA Greater Austin in coordination with HEB (#HEBhelpinghere) and Dell ERG Latino Connection want to honor and amplify the voices of Women and Women of Color during this year’s Día de Los Muertos celebration. Our Día de Los Muertos (DDLM) Community Mural Project will include community ofrendas and the creation of beautiful murals by local women of color that aim to strengthen and inspire our communities.
Through our Dia de los Muertos Community Mural Project, we celebrate our ancestors and honor them by continuing to fight for the rights of Women in Central Texas. A third of Austinites are Hispanic or Latinx, almost twice the United States average. This is a community whose voices we cannot afford to miss out on.
Some of the issues affecting women in Texas today are:
- Reproductive Rights,
- LGBTQIA+ Rights,
- Voter Suppression,
- Economic Security,
- Health and Community Well Being,
- Racial Justice,
- Mental Health,
- Banned Books and
- Gun Reform.
Our Partners and Supporters
So far this year’s Dia de los Muertos Community Mural Project, YWCA Greater Austin is proud to partner with: Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, HEB, and Candy Kuo (muralist) Joining hands together to make history in Central Texas.
HISTORY OF DDLM
Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday where families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a brief reunion that includes food, drink and celebration. “In Mexico, death rites date from pre-Hispanic rituals represented in murals, painted pottery, monuments, and artifacts, which shows how the Day of the Dead has its origins in the rituals practiced by the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Its precedents date to more than 3000 years ago when the Olmecs and subsequent Toltecs, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Maya, and Aztecs honored death.
Those who passed are alive in our memories. A continuous echo that at certain occasions becomes louder. As the only answer to many of our questions, death is an integral part of life, and the living and the dead meet on this day to emphasize the importance of death in the cycle of life.
Día de los Muertos acknowledges the symbiotic relationship between life and death. El día de Los Muertos is celebrated on November 1st and November 2nd, in which the spirits of the dead are believed to return home and spend time with their relatives on these two days. To welcome them, the family build altars in their honor. These altars have a series of different components that vary from one culture to another that mostly include yellow marigolds, candles, photos of the deceased ones, papel picado or cut tissue-paper designs, as well as food and beverages offerings for the dead.
It is common to see skulls or calaveras as decorations. These can be made of papier-mâché, clay, wood, metal, cut-out tissue paper, and often, they are made of sugar decorated with colored icing, flowers, or metallic colored foils.”(DIA DE LOS MUERTOS | The Mexican Museum)
Learn More Links
Five facts about Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) | Smithsonian Institution (si.edu)