Living with the Stars on Day of the Dead

Equinoxes and solstices are familiar astronomical markers of the seasons, but the cross-quarter days - the halfway points between them - are less commonly considered in popular culture. At the latitude of some of the oldest Maya cities in Mesoamerica, the cross-quarter day between the September equinox and December solstice coincides with the season of corn harvest and the traditions of Day of the Dead. These traditions reflect a rich intersection of Indigenous astronomy, agricultural cycles, and the enduring practice of honoring and welcoming the ancestors. Solar events, including the zenith and nadir passages of the Sun, as well as the November meridional culmination of the Pleiades, have important cultural and astronomical connections to this season.

A Day of the Dead altar or “ofrenda” will invite audience interaction - we ask interested participants to please bring a personally meaningful belonging, or portrait of a dearly departed, to place on the altar for the duration of the evening and take it home afterward, creating a temporary shared space for remembrance and connection.

Speaker: Isabel Hawkins, Ph.D., is an astronomer and Emerita at the Exploratorium in San Francisco