Penn Museum Hosts Mexican Observance Of Day Of The Dead Holiday

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Penn Museum in University City will once again host the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration this weekend.Ana Flores, executive director of the Mexican Cultural Center of Philadelphia, is preparing a seven-tier altar to mark the holiday during which families recall their deceased loved ones.

The altar is located in a second-floor gallery of the Penn Museum. It will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Flores says the altar features many representations of a person's life:

"We have things that people that pass away like when they were alive. For example, if they have a specific food, we cook for them that food and we put it here in the altar. We also have lights that will show them the way that they have to step to get closer to eternity."

She adds this year's altar is dedicated to the Mexican diplomat and Nobel Prize winning writer, Octavio Paz, to mark what would have been his 100th birthday. Paz died in 1998 at the age of 84.