Día De Los Muertos Altar
Dedicated to all the Casualties of War in Iraq

Un Altar Dedicada a Todos
los Muertos de la Guerra en Iraq

Artists: Ginette Rondeau, Juliane Backmann, Al Herion,
Gabriela Quintero and Bonjunnie Comostiles

This altar is dedicated to all the casualties of war for they have touched so many lives here and abroad. Each individual could have been a child, a spouse, a parent, a sibling, a cousin, a neighbor, a classmate and a best friend. The lives of these victims were ended far too soon, cutting short their hopes, dreams, careers and marriages. Our altar pays homage to all the casualties of war; may the spirit of their lives live with us eternally.”

As of February 1, 2006, according to a CNN count: “There have been 2,444 coalition deaths, 2,242 Americans, one Australian, 100 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, two Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Hungarian, 26 Italians, one Kazakh, one Latvian, 17 Poles, two Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians in the war in Iraq.  The list on the site are the names of the soldiers, Marines, airmen, sailors and Coast Guardsmen whose deaths have been reported by their country's governments. At least 16,548 U.S. troops have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon. View casualties in the war in Afghanistan and examine U.S. war casualties dating back to the Revolutionary War.”

That is 1194 more deaths since the original 1250 deaths we had honored at Olvera Street for the 2004 Dia De Los Muertos.

The “Altar of the Iraq War” was created on October 28, 2004 to honor and respect the memories and lives of all those who have died.

Thousands of others have been wounded both on and off the battlefield. “President Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1, though guerrilla resistance in Iraq has continued to claim lives and headlines almost daily,” as quoted on CNN.

Johns Hopkins University and the British Medical Weekly “The Lancet” have put the number of Iraqi casualties at 100,000 including women and children.

We would like to pay our respect and send them our love. This altar is dedicated to their memories so they won’t be forgotten, true to the meaning and spirit of Día De Los Muertos!

To view the entire dedication in English click here.
To view it in Spanish click here.

To research more about the War in Iraq:

To view a current list of casualties visit:
 http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties

To view Eyes Wide Open, the American Friends Service Committee’s widely-acclaimed exhibition on the human cost of the Iraq War and to learn more: visit http://www.afsc.org/eyes/

For Teachers and Youth interested more resources,
visit http://www.afsc.org/eyes/resources.htm

Spanish-language version:
¿óTienes Suficiente Informacin para Registrate en las Fuerza Armadas?

For more research information: visit www.moveon.org

Maria’s thank you letter to her sweetheart Edgar. She had visited Olvera Street and found his picture on the altar.

 Altar dedication in
English and Spanish
To view click on above link.

View detail photos of Offerings

To learn more about the philosophy about Dia De Los Muertos,
please view “Letter from the Curator”