Community in Focus

Día de Los Muertos comes alive at New York Botanical Garden

Posted Friday, October 9, 2026 10:08 am

Pumpkins and gourds of seemingly every shape, size and texture greet visitors at the New York Botanical Garden, where the fall harvest becomes part of the landscape surrounding its new Día de los Muertos exhibition. The display reflects the garden’s effort to weave horticulture throughout the celebration, highlighting plants native to Mexico and Central America alongside the cultural traditions of the holiday.

GARY JEAN-JUSTE photos

Rows of brightly-colored papel picado stretch above a pathway through the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden. The traditional Mexican folk art, made by cutting intricate designs into sheets of paper, is commonly strung across celebrations in Mexico, bringing movement and bursts of color to the garden’s winding paths.

A towering interpretation of La Catrina overlooks a mound of orange and yellow marigolds, creating one of the exhibition’s most striking displays. The figure has become an enduring symbol of Día de los Muertos, while marigolds are traditionally used to help guide departed loved ones with their color and scent. The garden constructed the floral figure around a tiered base filled with live plants.

A child-sized altar lets younger visitors interact directly with the traditions of Día de los Muertos. Children can rearrange offerings and explore objects commonly found on an ofrenda, including food, candles, flowers, water and photographs. The installation is one of several ways the garden adapted the celebration for the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, making remembrance something children can learn about through touch and play.

Along the garden’s path, an illustrated bilingual story introduces young visitors to the plants, traditions and memories associated with Día de los Muertos. The storybook walk follows a tale inspired by an artist creating an altar with her grandmother, extending the exhibition’s themes beyond its sculptures and flowers and into a narrative children can follow as they move through the landscape.

A brightly colored animal figure rises from the greenery, one of several alebrijes placed throughout the exhibition. The garden worked with Mexico City-based artist Saner — the professional name of Edgar Flores — on designs inspired by Mexican folk art and beliefs surrounding animal guides. The garden selected animals that can also be found on its grounds, including a squirrel, turtle, coyote, owl and hawk, tying the cultural display back to the Bronx landscape.

A skeleton backed by enormous monarch butterfly wings brings together two recurring symbols of the exhibition. Monarchs arrive in central Mexico each fall around the time of Día de los Muertos and have long been associated in some Indigenous traditions with the return of ancestors. Skeleton figures, meanwhile, are presented throughout the garden not as frightening images but as playful reminders of life, death and remembrance.

Colorful ribbons, flowers and calavera figures transform the entrance to the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden for the New York Botanical Garden’s first Día de los Muertos celebration. Beyond the arch, visitors can follow marigolds, monarchs and spirit animals through installations centered on memory and the natural world. Garden officials described the exhibition as a celebration of “life, memory and renewal,” pairing horticulture with art, cultural traditions and family programming throughout the month.

by Michelle Mullen

Bright marigolds, fluttering monarchs, towering skeletons and colorful spirit animals have transformed the New York Botanical Garden’s Everett Children’s Adventure Garden for fall as the garden debuts its first monthlong celebration of Día de los Muertos, when families honor relatives and other loved ones who have died.

The tradition is observed primarily Nov. 1 and 2 and centers on the belief that death does not sever a person’s place within a family or community. Rather than treating death only as a source of mourning, Día de los Muertos turns remembrance into a colorful celebration of life, with families often creating ofrendas, or altars, containing photographs, food, candles, marigolds and objects associated with those being remembered.

“We are honored to introduce this new fall experience at NYBG,” Jennifer Bernstein, the garden’s president and chief executive, said in announcing the exhibition. “Día de los Muertos showcases the beauty of this important tradition through horticulture, art and community while providing meaningful opportunities for reflection and connection in the garden.”

Running through Nov. 2, the garden’s exhibition brings the traditions of the Mexican holiday into the Bronx landscape through flora, folk art and interactive displays designed for children and adults.

At the start of the exhibit is a large ofrenda, painted in bold pinks and yellows, where visitors are invited to clip handwritten notes to the altar as well as photos of the loved ones they lost to hang alongside them.

The displays are accompanied by weekend music, dance performances, crafts and hands-on workshops throughout October.

The grand finale at the end of the walkway features a towering figure of La Catrina, a skeleton that has become one of the most recognizable symbols of Día de los Muertos. She is typically presented in an elegant dress with a vibrant hat or flower crown to match.

According to Kenia Pittman, the garden’s director of exhibition and design operations, La Catrina originated as a satirical mockery of Mexicans who rejected their Indigenous roots and tried to imitate European styles and social status. Over time, she said, La Catrina evolved to symbolize death’s universality — we all end up as bones, regardless of wealth or social status.

The celebration culminates Nov. 1 with a Día de los Muertos parade featuring musicians, dancers, giant puppets, skeleton figures and monarch butterflies, along with cultural activities, food and communal remembrance.

“We all have a lot of losses through our lives and it really does become a very joyous moment where we’re celebrating the life of the people that were with use, and throughout all that sadness and loss that you’ve had you remember the memories, the good times they’re here with you, they’ll never leave you,” Pittman said.

Keywords

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