At Oakland Cemetery, dozens of relatives who had arrived to honor loved ones clapped for ballet folklorico performances as part of a Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, celebration on Saturday afternoon.
Surrounded by graves, performers danced with the backdrop of a brightly decorated altar, where visitors could bring photos and offerings for loved ones, and place them among marigolds, bread, skull decorations and candles.
Debbie Orozco Solis, who is on the cemetery’s board, helped organize the festivities and said the celebration is an important part of remembering ancestors, like her own buried there, along with the lives and histories of Mexican people in Dallas. On its third year, she said she’s seen mothers cry as their children danced.
“Why? Because they hadn’t seen this,” Solis said. “I realized we have to celebrate our culture.”
The celebration is one of several planned across Dallas for the holiday. Families that have lived in West Dallas and Little Mexico, are memorialized at the Oakland cemetery, Orozco Solis said. It’s where 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez, who was killed in 1973 by a Dallas police officer, is buried.
As the city’s first “perpetual care” cemetery, off Malcolm X Boulevard in South Dallas, Oakland has served as a burial ground for many of the city’s pioneers. In 2019 it had become overgrown. A group of volunteers began working to restore it during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dallas City Councilman Omar Narvaez, whose district largely includes West Dallas, attended Saturday and said he realizes that many residents who live in that area are buried at the cemetery, which started in 1892 in South Dallas.
“The history that people don’t know, is that back in those days ... in the early ‘10s and ‘20s and the ‘30s, Mexicans could only be buried in one area, or they were designated where they could bury and Oakland was one of those cemeteries.”
He said that at the first celebration he attended 3 years ago, there weren’t dancers and there was a small ceremony. It has expanded since and has support from the city.
The celebration included representatives with the Dallas Public Library, for those interested in genealogy. Constellation of Living Memorials, which is working to transform neglected historic cemeteries in Texas into natural habitats that feature native plants, also attended. A tour was given for those interested in the history at the cemetery.
Performers with the Ollimpaxqui Ballet Folklórico showed attendees a range of Latin American dances inspired by Day of the Dead. At one point, the group asked the audience to join in, as they clapped and turned in the cemetery. Among them, was Monica Newbury, the cemetery administrator.
Newbury, who has family buried at the site, worked as the lead volunteer to restore the grounds before becoming the administrator. She said the day was about showing the whole community another way to appreciate and remember their ancestors.
“We have so many Americans here that have a totally different perception of what Día de los Muertos is, or what it means,” Newbury said.
It’s important, she said, to spread “cultural love” and teach the community at large that it isn’t a Halloween celebration, but one of remembrance.
“The more people we can make aware of the celebration, and bring out here, I think the better it is — not just for the deceased at Oakland, but just in general,” she added.
Seven-year-old Zavannah Orozco, a grandniece to Orozco Solis, also joined in on the dances in parts of the performance. She was there with Orozco Solis’ daughter, learning about her heritage with relatives.
Zavannah was shown ancestors, like great-grandparents, as relatives added to the family’s altar at the cemetery. Later, she visited the graves of relatives generations before her.
For a long time, Orozco Solis said, the cemetery was closed because “it wasn’t being taken care of.” Now that it’s open again, more relatives can visit and plots are being sold.
Orozco Solis said at first, she became interested in the cemetery because she was focusing on her father, who is buried there. Then, she got into genealogy. The earliest relative of Orozco Solis was placed at the cemetery in 1928. Her grandfather is also buried at the site.
“I came here, we come to the fundraisers, and we hadn’t heard any history of the Mexicans that were buried here,” Orozco Solis said. “So, in order to do that, what do you do? This is what you do.”
