Original Artwork by Tony Ortega "Frida y Diego como Muertos" Woodblock print (2026)
Día de Muertos at Regis University
Bringing Memory Home
Regis University invites the Denver community to celebrate Día de Muertos under the theme of "Bringing Memory Home." Throughout the week, our campus becomes a shared space for remembrance and celebration, honoring those who came before us through altars, prayer, food, art, music, storytelling and community gatherings that welcome students, faculty, staff, families and neighbors alike.
Día de Muertos reminds us that grief and celebration can coexist, and that remembering is an act of community. We invite you to bring your memories, honor those you love and reflect on the stories, traditions and wisdom that connect us to one another and to the generations that shaped who we are. All are welcome.
Schedule of Events
Monday, Nov. 2
Voices of Memory: Gathering Between High School Students and the Regis Community
Calaveritas Literarias Contest / Altares and Alebrijes Exhibition
8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
St. John Francis Regis Chapel and Main Hall, Second Floor
This gathering brings high school students from across the Denver area to Regis University to share creative work rooted in the traditions of Día de Muertos. Students present three forms of artistic expression: altares honoring loved ones, ancestors and stories they wish to keep present; alebrijes drawing on a Mexican artistic tradition that celebrates imagination through fantastical creatures and vibrant forms; and calaveritas literarias using poetry, humor and satire to reflect playfully on life, death and the people around us.
At the center of the gathering are the students themselves, not as visitors but as artists, storytellers and knowledge-sharers who invite the Regis community into conversation about the people, traditions and memories that shape who we are. The event creates a space for exchange across schools, communities, cultures and generations, recognizing young people as active participants in keeping cultural traditions alive and giving them new meaning.
Mass for the Faithful Departed
5:15 p.m.
St. John Francis Regis Chapel
The Mass for the Faithful Departed gathers the Regis community in prayer to honor and remember family members, friends, ancestors and those we have lost. Rooted in the Catholic tradition and in dialogue with the practices of Día de Muertos, the Mass holds space for grief, gratitude and hope, inviting us to name those who came before us and to recognize that remembering the dead is an affirmation of the relationships and communities that continue to shape who we are.
Remembering Is Living Again: Community Dinner
6:30 p.m.
Chapel Basement
Following the Mass for the Faithful Departed, the community is invited to gather for a shared meal rooted in the idea that recordar es volver a vivir – to remember is to live again. Food and hospitality become acts of remembrance, creating space for both sorrow and celebration and reminding us that Día de Muertos is as much about community and connection as it is about grief.
Tuesday, Nov. 3
Altares and Nichos Exhibition
9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Student Center, Second Floor
Created by students from across Regis University, this exhibition brings together altares and nichos as expressions of memory, family, identity and cultural heritage. Each work honors loved ones, ancestors and stories students wish to keep present, incorporating photographs, objects, food, symbols and other elements that connect personal memory to broader cultural traditions. Together, the works create a collective space of remembrance on campus where individual stories become part of a shared conversation about loss, belonging and the relationships that continue to shape us.
Wednesday, Nov. 4
Seeds of Remembrance
11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Pollinator Garden
Seeds of Remembrance invites the Regis community to honor loved ones, ancestors and those whose stories we carry by planting fall bulbs in the Pollinator Garden. The bulbs will rest through the winter and emerge in the spring, offering a living expression of memory, continuity and renewal. The gathering connects care for the land with care for memory, reflecting on how those who came before us continue to shape the communities we build today.
Altares, Food and Memory
12:30 to 2 p.m.
Student Center, Second Floor
Food carries memories of people, places, migrations and home. This gathering brings the Regis community together around Día de Muertos altars, storytelling and a shared meal to explore how culinary traditions carry history across generations. Participants are invited to visit the altars, share stories and experience Colombian lechona as one example of a recipe that carries culture and memory. Through food and conversation, the event reminds us that memory lives not only in what we preserve but in what we cook, share and pass on.
Thursday, Nov. 5
Día de Muertos: A Celebration of Remembrance: Art Exhibition and Artist Reception
4-7 p.m.
Dayton Memorial Library, Fireside Lounge
This exhibition brings together painting, drawing, printmaking and other works by current Regis students and alumni of artist and professor Tony Ortega, exploring Día de Muertos through themes of family, memory, culture and remembrance. Curated by Ortega, the exhibition reflects how art and tradition keep loved ones and cultural histories present across generations. A companion collection of works by Nacho Gómez Arriola from the Taller Gráfica de Comala, curated by Professor Gabriela Carrión, expands the exhibition's exploration of Día de Muertos and connects Regis artists to broader Mexican printmaking traditions.
Exhibition on view Oct. 5 through Nov. 9.
Mariachi Presentation
5 to 6 p.m.
On the Quad, by Dayton Memorial Library
Music is essential to how communities celebrate, mourn and remain connected across generations. This mariachi performance brings the Regis community together through a tradition deeply tied to Mexican cultural identity, family and collective celebration. Presented as part of Día de Muertos, it reminds us that remembering those who came before us can be an expression of gratitude, joy and love for the lives they lived. Through familiar melodies, songs become vessels of memory, carrying stories and emotions across generations and creating connections between those who are present and those we remember.
Friday, Nov. 6
Visit to Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe
5:30 to 9 p.m.
Meet on the Quad, by the Student Center
This community visit takes Día de Muertos beyond the Regis campus and into Denver's Art District on Santa Fe, where art, public space and cultural tradition come together. Participants will explore exhibitions, altars, murals and other artistic expressions, experiencing how artists and communities throughout Denver interpret memory, identity and remembrance in their own ways. In the spirit of Bringing Memory Home, the visit connects our celebration at Regis with the broader cultural life of Denver, reminding us that memory travels with people, families and traditions, becoming part of every community where they take root.
More About the Celebrations
From a Humble Beginning to a Regis Tradition
Día de Muertos at Regis began as a humble celebration led by Fr. Fernando Álvarez Lara, SJ, in fall 2013. Over time, students, faculty, staff, families and community partners enriched it with their stories, prayers, creativity and cultural knowledge.
Today, Día de Muertos is a Regis tradition that reflects our identity and mission as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and Colorado’s Jesuit Catholic university. As an institution of higher education, we create spaces for dialogue, critical reflection, hospitality, spiritual discernment and a shared commitment to human dignity, grounded in our cultural, intellectual and spiritual traditions.
This commemoration also creates a communal space for grieving, where we can share our pain and duelos. By gathering in candlelight and sharing stories, we begin a process of collective healing. Together, we reflect on losses within our community — from the loss of colleagues, friends and relatives to broader challenges facing our communities and our common home.
The Power of Fiesta and Celebración
For Latine communities, fiesta does not mean pretending that all is well with the world. Amid loss, chaos and desolation, celebration creates a space to contemplate the beauty of God, community and life.
Fiesta emerges in the midst of grief as an embrace from our community, affirming that sorrow and joy can coexist and that we do not stand alone.
Día de Muertos is a living tradition rooted in Indigenous Mesoamerican understandings of life, death, memory and community. At its center is the creation of a public language and shared spaces through which el pueblo — the people and their communities — can address inequality, violence, migration, exclusion and other collective struggles.
Through postrevolutionary Mexican art and public culture, the tradition also became a powerful expression of identity, national pride, critical reflection and political engagement.
Día de Muertos also remains an intimate family tradition. In their homes, families build altars, prepare food, create art, pray, tell stories and reflect together. Through photographs, marigolds, music, calaveras and shared meals, they honor those who have died and welcome their presence into the lives of the living.
Día de Muertos is therefore a multidimensional cultural and spiritual tradition that moves between private and public life, connecting family remembrance with the experiences, concerns and collective voice of el pueblo.
Trayendo la Memoria a Casa
This year’s theme presents Regis as a common home grounded in welcome, belonging, remembrance and care. It honors Fr. Fernando’s phrase, “Bringing Home the Dead — Regresando Nuestros Muertos a Casa,” and calls us to preserve the names, faces, voices, stories and knowledge of those who came before us rather than reduce human lives to numbers, data, or forgotten histories.
The theme also invites us to think about our responsibilities to one another. Indigenous teachings about interdependence and the Catholic understanding of our “common home” remind us that people, ancestors, future generations, communities and the natural world depend upon one another.
Bringing Memory Home is a call to restore forgotten people and stories to our shared life, strengthen our responsibilities to one another and draw upon ancestral wisdom as we care for vulnerable communities, future generations and our common home.
An Invitation to Remember, Discern and Build Community
Throughout the week, we invite our community to reflect:
- Whom do we remember?
- Whose stories are missing?
- What have we inherited?
- What responsibilities do the lives of those who came before us give us today?
- How can their wisdom guide our care for vulnerable communities, future generations and our common home?
The week is a shared journey. Through hospitality, prayer, remembrance, food, art, music and community engagement, it moves us from encounter to reflection and from reflection to solidarity. Bring your memories. Honor your ancestors. Share your stories. Join us in celebrating Día de Muertos at Regis.
