The New York Botanical Garden is holding its first Día de los Muertos celebration this fall, and it has two weekends left. The installation of marigolds, painted skulls and a towering flower-covered Catrina has been up since Oct. 3 on the garden's grounds at 2900 Southern Boulevard, across from Fordham University, and it closes on Monday, Nov. 2, the Day of the Dead itself. The biggest day is Sunday, Nov. 1, when a parade of giant puppets winds from the community altar to Daffodil Hill.

A community altar anyone can add to

At the center of the installation is an ofrenda, the altar families build in Mexico and across Latin America to remember the people they have lost. The garden's version is communal: visitors can bring a photograph or write out a memory and leave it on the altar. Whatever is left becomes part of the installation and is not returned. Food and candles, which often appear on home altars, are not allowed here.

This weekend: paper flowers and son jarocho

On Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 24 and 25, Bronx artist Blanka Amezkua leads drop-in workshops in silk flowers and papel picado, the cut-paper banners strung over Día de los Muertos celebrations, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The son jarocho band Son Pecadores plays sets at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. at the entrance to the Everett Children's Adventure Garden. Puppeteer Lucrecia Novoa and Mascara Viva send monarch butterfly puppets roaming through the Adventure Garden from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days.

On weekdays through the end of the run, a kids' activity called Mariposas and Marigolds runs Tuesday through Friday from 1:30 to 5 p.m., and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.

Halloween at the garden

On Saturday, Oct. 31, the workshops move to the afternoon, 1 to 5 p.m., and La Catrina and her skeleton puppets take over the grounds. MAZarte Dance Company performs Mexican folk dance every half hour from 1 to 5 p.m. The Bronx Children's Museum runs a mini clay alebrijes session called An Ofrenda for Perro from 2 to 3 p.m., recommended for ages 4 to 10. Bilingual Birdies leads Spanish and English sing-alongs at 1, 2 and 4 p.m. on the Circle Grass Area of the Adventure Garden.

The day before, Friday, Oct. 30, the garden holds a marigold workshop on cempasúchitl, the flower most associated with the holiday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Watson Education Building. That one requires registration.

Nov. 1: the parade

The Sunday schedule:

  • 1 p.m.: welcome and crafts near the ofrenda.
  • 2 p.m.: the parade, led by Son Pecadores and the Mascara Viva puppets.
  • 2:30 p.m.: MAZarte Dance Company on the Daffodil Hill main stage.
  • 3:15 p.m.: a cumbia sonidera dance class with CoolMarx on the same stage.
  • 3:30 to 5 p.m.: a dance party on Daffodil Hill with live music and photos with the puppets.

Carmen Paulino leads a crochet workshop and Amezkua a skull mask workshop during the day. Bilingual Birdies sings at 1, 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. If the weather is bad, the 2 p.m. parade is canceled and the rest of the day goes ahead.

Daffodil Hill has food from noon to 5 p.m. on parade day: churros, pan de muerto and other sweets, plus tacos and tamales from vendors. The Pine Tree Café and Hudson Garden Grill are open during garden hours.

The last day

On Monday, Nov. 2, workshops, puppets and MAZarte's dancers return from 1 to 5 p.m. On Nov. 1 and Nov. 2, the Día de los Muertos trail and the Adventure Garden close at 5 p.m.

How to go

The celebration is included in the garden's All-Garden Pass, sold on the garden's admission page. The garden is at 2900 Southern Boulevard in the Bronx, next to Fordham University. Metro-North's Harlem Line stops at Botanical Garden station across the street, and the B, D and 4 trains stop at Bedford Park Boulevard, a walk west of the garden's Mosholu Gate.

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