All Souls' Day Offerings

Gene Kloss

All Souls' Day, in Western Christianity, is a day commemorating the faithful departed, in particular but not exclusively one's relatives. The annual celebration is now held on November 2nd and is associated with All Saints' Day (November 1st) and its vigil, Halloween (October 31). Closely associated with these calendar days is the Mexican celebration Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Many aspects of these celebrations became a part of the traditions of some Indigenous tribes of the Americas as colonialism expanded.

Here, Gene Kloss depicts Tiwa tribespeople of Taos, New Mexico in embroidered robes, holding traditionally woven baskets laden with offerings for the dead. All Souls' Day in the Taos Pueblo is celebrated as a crossover between their Native religious practices and the Catholicism brought in the 16th century by Spanish colonizers. These celebrations are closed to the majority of non-Natives, with only a select few invited to observe. Kloss was one such observer during her time in New Mexico; images such as these were drawn from memory.