It’s said that the spirits of the deceased return to loved ones who remember them on the Day of the Dead.

There should be plenty of spirits partying this weekend at the Tacoma Art Museum.

The museum is partnering with community groups to hold its fifth annual observance of “Día de los Muertos,” or in English, Day of the Dead, on Sunday.

The tradition has been observed for centuries in Latin American countries and it’s especially big in Mexico, where families honor their dearly departed generally from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2.

Nov. 1 is dedicated to remembering deceased children. The next day honors adults.

“It’s really celebratory,” said Melody Rodriguez, director of an after-school youth program called Proyecto MoL and the organizer of the community altars. “I’m sure people cry tears but the mood is not intended to be one of sadness. It’s one of: this is the day we truly honor and celebrate those we have lost. This is our time to be with them.

“What is the closest way to be with them but to go to their place of rest?”

Families travel to cemeteries, where they tidy up and decorate relatives’ tombstones. They bring the deceased person’s favorite foods, eat, reminisce and often spend the night there.

They set up altars at the grave sites and even more elaborate ones at home featuring photos, their loved one’s favorite objects and tiny skeleton figurines going to market, dancing, getting married and doing other activities the deceased person enjoyed.

“People dress up as skeletons to represent they’re with their family always,” said Edgar Espinoza, a Lincoln High School student who regularly visits relatives in Mexico. “In Mexico, when they’re dead, they’re not considered gone forever. They’re just in a different place and they’re waiting for the day you cross to the other side to be with them.”

The grave site traditions haven’t caught on in Western Washington, Rodriguez said, because relatives of recent Mexican immigrants often aren’t buried here. Even if they are interred here, American graves are closer together and cemetery rules differ from those in Mexico, she said.

But many people erect altars at home, especially if they can’t make it to their loved one’s place of burial.

The Día de los Muertos event at the Tacoma museum will serve as a kind of public home-away-from-home event for many in the area’s growing Latino community.

The festivities include performances by local Mexican dance and music groups and sugar skull decorating. Visitors can admire an elaborate “tapete” sand painting of a musical skeleton trio created by Seattle artist Fulgencio Lazo and local volunteers. They can see Stadium High School students’ prints honoring loved ones or heros, designed for Day of the Dead.

Altars erected by schools, community groups and individuals will be a poignant focal point.

Colorful tissue-paper “papel picado” banners and artificial marigolds adorn the altars. People traditionally place real marigolds at grave sites, a museum description says, providing a fragrant trail of petals that souls follow to return to Earth to be with relatives.

Some of the altars are thematic. Students at Lincoln High School’s Multicultures United club created a shrine about the impact of drug abuse on the people surrounding the abuser. Several club members talked of brothers and fathers serving prison time for drug-related crimes.

“A lot of people are using drugs and dying by drugs,” said Espinoza, the club president. “And they think the drugs only affect them but it affects their friends, family and co-workers.”

On the club altar, a picture of a guardian angel is draped in rosary beads and surrounded by candles and flowers. Photos of babies and a pregnant mother hover in the background.

The guardian angels represent someone other than parents watching over children, student Marylou Diaz said.

“Since the parents are sometimes the ones doing the drugs, the kids are not protected by anybody,” she said.

Other altars focus on individuals rather than themes. The Tacoma Community College Latino Student Union creation features photos and remembrances of the students’ deceased family members. The altar by Washington High School’s Latino Student Organization includes a tribute to a student’s relative – a Mexican police officer gunned down this year in the line of duty.

There’s plenty of participation by non-Latinos, as well.

Stadium art teacher Laurie Brown assembled an altar in memory of her late husband, Nick Gallo, who died of a sudden illness at the age of 57 two years ago this month.

The altar reflects his life as a travel writer and family man. There’s a poster-sized copy of one of his stories, media passes, family photos, his baseball jacket, Mexican folk art and writing awards.

Brown said creating an altar for Gallo was fitting since he often wrote about Mexico, and their family often vacationed there.

This year, the Mexican Travel Bureau named a travel writing award after him, she said.

“I felt it would be a good way to honor him,” she said of the altar. “Our culture doesn’t talk about death and that kind of thing. It’s a good way to sort of keep your loved ones close to you. We were together for almost 36 years.”

Rodriguez said the Tacoma Art Museum celebration has grown from 500 participants the first year to more than 2,000 last year. She’s seen people of different backgrounds who would otherwise never meet share supplies as they erect altars and chat with each other.

“I’m happy to show my culture to the community. Most people don’t think of the traditions. They just think of all the foods and stuff,” said Lincoln student Ana Ruiz. “I want to show the traditions, and not be ashamed of it.”

Debby Abe: 253-597-8694

debby.abe@thenewstribune.com