At a historic cemetery in the South, a Dia de los Muertos festival takes root

The earthy smoke of Mexican copal incense wafts around the entrance of the Historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina. It's a way to keep bad vibes away and invite good ones for Dia de Oakwood, a major Day of the Dead art installation and festival here, said Peter Marin. It's like cleaning your house before the guests arrive, says Marin, a Mexican-American artist who now calls North Carolina home, and helps organize the weeklong festival. When the Spanish arrived in the Americas, it was too expensive to import frankincense and myrrh. So they started using Copal in religious ceremonies. It's an example of syncretism things coming together, Marin said.

Over time, more and more people from Raleigh, including people who had never celebrated Dia de Los Muertos, started leaving pictures of their beloved dead on Salamanca's ofrenda. I even had somebody call and ask me to print a picture of a World War II veteran that is buried here in the cemetery and put it on the ofrenda, Salamanca said. And when I came back, sure enough, there were 20 extra pictures.

You have to come and see what's happened, she recalled the cemetery director saying. All these people are bringing pictures to the ofrenda. It helps me incorporate this tradition into my own experience.

The ceremonial copal, with the assistance of hundreds of glowing cempasuchil flowers, will attract the souls of the dead on November 1 and 2, when Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico and the U.S.

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