Full Frame: Dia de los muertos

Full Frame features photo essays and conversations with photographers in the field.

Once a year the dead return. Their favorite foods await them, as do trumpeteers and loved ones, eager for the chance to meet once more with those who have departed their earthly lives.

"El dia de los muertos," or "day of the dead," is a tradition that spans cultures. In the department of Oruro, south of La Paz, Bolivia, the Aymara and Quechua groups see death as a cause for celebration, since the physical disappearance is accompanied by a reappearance in the spiritual world.

They do not perceive a life-death conflict, rather they believe there is a continuum, and from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, they celebrate the memory of the dead through time-honored traditions.

On the first day of celebration, the dead children — known as "angels" — are received. Participants put out a white plate with water and candles. Then, they wait for flies. They say the flies mark the arrival of the souls of the children.  



It’s an important celebration for the community — and members even pressure others into participating. Miriam Anferny, a resident of Oruro, lost her baby, Kael, when he was a day old. His death coincided with the commemoration of All Souls’ Day. Although the woman didn’t want to pay homage, she said she had to yield to the wishes of her relatives and perform the ceremony.

On Nov. 1, All Hallows Day, the souls of the other dead are collected. The doors of homes are opened to those offering prayers.

Preparation begin a week earlier: markets start selling crosses and ornaments, bakeries make traditional foods and families purchase condolence cards. At home, the largest room is made into a tomb or alter, with a table covered by a white cloth. On the table are offerings liked by the decreased during their earthly lives: food, candy, toys, fruits, flowers and candles, alongside pictures of the dead.

It’s a colorful and elaborate holiday. "Spending money is a way to expose power and to invest what they have to show their status with others," said 


anthropologist Marcelo Lara at the Center for Ecology and Andean Peoples.

The ritual can last all night until noon on Nov. 2, All Saints Day, the most important of all when the offerings are collected and brought to the cemeteries of the city. The ritual involves eating with the dead in the cemeteries. Bands also play — the one time of year they are allowed to enter these places and break the peace of the graveyard. 



In the department of Oruro there are three cemeteries: the Principal, located in the center of the city, the Chapi Kollu in the north and Iroko, outside the east of this city. These customs, however, can only be carried out in Iroko. The other cemeteries are subject to laws from colonial times that outlaw the cult of the dead as a pagan practice. Local police prohibit alcoholic beverages and bands from the premises, but offer a small concession by letting in trumpeters, who perform songs as an offering to the dead. 



Once the cemetery rituals are completed, revelers conclude the festivities and return home to wait for next year to meet again with the souls of their loved ones.

About the photographer:

Javier Heinzmann is working on a long-term project documenting death rituals in different cultures. His objective is to show how different people remember and pay tribute to the dead and deal with the subject of death.

For this work, Javier traveled to Bolivia to document an ancient ceremony practiced by the Incas, Aymara, Quechua and Urus, among other ethnicities. This work focuses in Oruro, Bolivia, and shows how urban Aymara and Quechua practice this ceremony today, with a mixture of Catholic religion imposed by the colonizers and the ancient traditions of indigenous Andean peoples.