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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Araceli Bazan-Tlatenchi opened a bag of <em>pan de muerto</em> on Tuesday evening and lovingly placed several pieces of the sugar-topped bread &#8212; fresh from the bakery and shaped like bodies with arms across their chests &#8212; on the <em>ofrenda</em> table in her home.</p><p>&#8221;<em>Para mi Mama, para mi Papa</em>,&#8221; she said, gently leaning bread for her late mother and father next to the oranges, bananas and candles already displayed in front of photographs of Felix Tlatenchi and Ernesto Bazan, who had died so long ago in Mexico, of a heart attack and cancer, respectively, when they were in their 30s.</p><p>During her observance of <em>Dia de Los Muertos</em>, or Day of the Dead, Bazan-Tlatenchi, 52, wanted no one to be forgotten. She had candy for her brother Arturo, who had died as a boy of 8; and had filled a pink cup with rice pudding for a little girl named Daisy, who had died at 8 months.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s kind of a communal celebration,&#8221; said Daisy&#8217;s brother, Roberto Colin, 37, of Wilkes-Barre, who described himself as a member of Bazan-Tlatenchi&#8217;s extended family. &#8220;It&#8217;s more a celebration of life than a sadness at their passing.&#8221;</p><p>Bazan-Tlatenchi and her daughters Guadalupe Sosa, 31, and Karen Degante, 22, prepared food the deceased had enjoyed in life, ranging from tamales to sweetened pumpkin, and placed it on the <em>ofrenda.</em></p><p>&#8220;They liked Pepsi, too,&#8221; Sosa said, explaining that&#8217;s why several bottles of soda graced the table.</p><p>The candles represent a light to guide the spirits from their realm back toward their families on earth, Colin said, and the glasses contain water for the journey, &#8220;because they come from afar and are thirsty.&#8221;</p><p>Starting today, Nov. 2, and for the rest of the week, the family will eat the food on the <em>ofrenda</em>, Bazan-Tlatenchi said, explaining it would not be good to waste it.</p><p>Different families observe the Day of the Dead with various traditions, Colin said. While the Castro family, also of Wilkes-Barre, gathered for a prayer service on Monday evening, Bazan-Tlatenchi had her grandchildren, 10-year-old Damien and 5-year-old Skyla, pull orange marigolds apart on Tuesday so she could spread the petals on the floor in the form of a cross before the <em>ofrenda</em>.</p><p>&#8220;In Mexico,&#8221; Colin said, &#8220;families would typically spend days at the cemetery.&#8221;</p><p>With loved ones often buried far away, some local families turn their attention South of the Border, making arrangements for someone there to place flowers on graves or arrange for a headstone. Some even send bodies of people who died in the United States back to Mexican cemeteries for burial.</p><p>As for Bazan-Tlatenchi, she said she wants to be buried in the United States, where her children are, and she wants them to maintain the Day of the Dead traditions.</p><p>Her daughter Guadalupe Sosa, who was still wearing her uniform from the urology office where she works when she hurried home to help with the cooking on Tuesday, vowed she will.</p><p>&#8220;Every year, (my mother) tells us, &#8216;The day I die I want you to at least put a cup of water out for me and a cup of coffee and bread and a white candle, to show I have a presence in your home,&#8217; &#8221; Sosa said.</p><p>&#8220;I never want that day to come,&#8221; Sosa said. &#8220;But I know that I will honor her wishes. It&#8217;s a very simple tradition, very humble, but it&#8217;s from the heart. I would definitely continue.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption"> Araceli Bazan Tlatenchi blows incense on the oferenda in her Wilkes-Barre home in remembrance of loved ones who have passed away as part of her Day of the Dead tradition. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_dead.muerto.jpg</photo0><caption0> Araceli Bazan Tlatenchi blows incense on the oferenda in her Wilkes-Barre home in remembrance of loved ones who have passed away as part of her Day of the Dead tradition. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_day2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The Castro family prays the rosary at the family&#8217;s <em>ofrenda</em> on Monday evening as they commemorate the Day of the Dead, which is officially Nov. 2. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_day2.jpg</photo1><caption1>The Castro family prays the rosary at the family&#8217;s <em>ofrenda</em> on Monday evening as they commemorate the Day of the Dead, which is officially Nov. 2. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_dead1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">At the start of the Castro family&#8217;s Day of the Dead ceremony, Maria Victoria Castro prays for her parents and seven children who have passed away. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_dead1.jpg</photo2><caption2>At the start of the Castro family&#8217;s Day of the Dead ceremony, Maria Victoria Castro prays for her parents and seven children who have passed away. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, marked</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre families celebrate Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead