At the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, NYC: First Día de los Muertos Brings Marigolds, a Giant Catrina and Monarch Puppets

The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx is staging its first Día de los Muertos, running October 3 through November 2. The garden describes it as a celebration of memory, life and renewal. Marigold blooms line a trail where friendly spirit guides lead visitors to artfully arranged calaveras and a larger-than-life Catrina adorned with colorful flowers. The setting is the garden's autumn foliage and festive pumpkins.

A community ofrenda invites visitors to remember loved ones by adding a photograph or a written memory. Everything contributed becomes part of the installation and is not returned, and offerings of food and candles are not permitted.

This weekend, October 24 and 25, brings hands-on workshops from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with Bronx-based teaching artist Blanka Amezkua, a Mexican-American contemporary artist who draws on medicinal plants and botanical traditions. Families learn papel picado, the traditional Mexican paper-cutting art, by making miniature decorative banners, and make silk flowers to wear and take home. In the same hours, monarch butterfly puppets by Lucrecia Novoa of Mascara Viva roam the Everett Children's Adventure Garden.

Live music comes from Son Pecadores, a collective of jaraneros based in NYC that is dedicated to learning and promoting son jarocho on the East Coast. The style is Mexican folk music and dance from the state of Veracruz, blending indigenous, Spanish and African elements. Sets are at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. at the entrance to the Children's Adventure Garden.

Later dates add more. La Catrina and skeleton puppets roam the grounds October 31 and November 1 and 2 from 1 to 5 p.m. MAZarte performs Mexican folk dance on October 31 and November 2, and the Día de los Muertos parade is Sunday, November 1 at 2 p.m. On October 31 from 2 to 3 p.m., a storytime with the Bronx Children's Museum is followed by making mini clay alebrijes, recommended for ages 4 to 10. The trail and the Children's Adventure Garden close at 5 p.m. on November 1 and 2.