Families here have much to do: Search in the garage for grandmother's crochet doilies; call relatives for a comb or brush used by a deceased uncle; and bake loaves of Mexican pan de muerto (bread of the dead), using eggs, anise seeds and an orange glaze -- among many ingredients.

For Becca Ceballos-DeLap, who is one of eight children born to Agapito and Eugenia Sanchez Ceballos here in Flagstaff, preparing for the festival is well worth the effort. It encompasses Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead, a Mesoamerican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico, Latin America and the Southwest.

Coinciding with the Catholic Holy Days of All Souls Day and All Saints Day, this ancient Aztec tradition is celebrated on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 each year and welcomes back the spirits of loved ones who have passed.

FUN, THERAPEUTIC FESTIVAL

Ceballos-DeLap and her extended family work all year to gather the pieces necessary to assemble the ofrendas -- or altars -- to honor departed ones.

On the family altar are the chicken enchiladas and Corona beer for her brother, Gilbert, who died in a car accident six years ago, and the sardines and crackers for her father Agapito, who died in 1983 and liked to take these foods on hunting trips.

"I think because of what we do, it is definitely an important holiday," she said. "It's how we remember our family. In Mexico, they spend more money preparing food for this holiday than they do for Christmas. They prepare tons of food, including tons of bread. In our case, we're always on the lookout for something we can place on our altars. It's fun, and it's therapeutic. It's a very nice celebration, I think."

In all, 20 altars are being displayed this weekend in the courtyard at MNA, with many Hispanic families participating.

There is also an altar for veterans and a large community altar, on which members in the Flagstaff community have been invited to add elements from their families.

Recalling Aztec pyramids, altars are in three levels, with the smallest level at the top.

Other required elements for altars are the sugar skulls (calaveras) and skeleton statues.

"The skeletons are like actual people; they're dressed in working clothes," Ceballos-DeLap explained. "You need a skeleton for everyone represented on the altar. They welcome back the spirits. You put one extra, in case you forgot someone."

LOSING A BIT TROUGH TIME

Helping to keep this tradition and others alive and well is Nuestras Raices (Our Roots), a grassroots organization of Hispanic pioneer families whose history in this area dates from the late 1800s.

Our Roots organizers meet regularly, including a week before the MNA festival, when they eat at El Charro in the Southside to hash out remaining details for the MNA festival.

"We all represent families who have been here a long time," said Loretta Vega Velasco, a core member of Nuestras Raices. "My grandmother came here in 1886. Our grandparents came from Mexico. Our parents were born here. "

Many of them trace their ancestry to the Nahuatl-speaking tribes of Mexico, and some from Mayan tribes.

The ancestors of Nuestras Raices members lived in the oldest Hispanic areas in Flagstaff: Los Chantes, La Plaza Vieja, La Plaza Nueva, Las Calveras, La Loma and Southside.

The Hispanic pioneers here helped build the railroads, were sheepherders and lumberjacks and worked in the early sawmills.

For 11 years, the last eight in partnership with MNA, the nonprofit has built up the Day of the Dead festival to be what is probably the most popular Hispanic tradition in town.

"Each generation, you lose a little bit," said Armando Gonzalez, another Our Roots member. "We're bringing back stuff that's been lost, so we have something to pass on to our kids -- for instance, Dia de los Muertos. That's one of the favorites for the kids."

TRIPE, SHRIMP & MARIACHIS

Adding to the enjoyment of Hispanic holidays and other celebrations like birthdays are traditional foods and music, such as that provided by Los Compadres, a local community conjunto, or small group, who are playing familiar Mexican root music today at the museum.

"When the Mexicans get together, they have to have music," Gonzalez said. "Those Los Compadres have been together for 30 years."

Ballet Folklorico de Colores in Flagstaff performs regional dances of Mexico at community events throughout the year, including during Celebraciones de la Gente.

Mariachi music still figures prominently in cultural life of the Hispanic community here.

"Every family had a musician," Gonzalez said. "My grandfather in Mexico was a mariachi."

A classic Mexican dish, menudo, a spicy tripe and hominy soup, is an essential ingredient for the Ano Nuevo (New Year) holiday.

Menudo is part of many holiday celebrations, especially breakfast on New Year's Day.

"We cook it at night and eat it New Year's morning," Anaya said.

During Lent, different foods without meat are made for Fridays, such as nopales, segments of prickly pear cactus, and tortas de camarones, chopped dried shrimp in cakes.

"They make a batter and add it into hot oil," Munoz said. "They make little round cakes."

Munoz is famous in her family for making tamales all year.

"But myself and our other sisters make them for Christmas only," Ceballos-Delap said.

FEWER PLAYS AND POSADAS

Other traditions have fallen away from the Hispanic calendar here, such as Las Posadas, the Mexican tradition of candlelight processions and lively parties in the nine days before Christmas.

As practiced in Mexico, Las Posadas recalls the events in the pilgrimage of Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Children and others parade on a route that honors that difficult trip to a safe haven. After Mary and Joseph find a place of rest, celebrants break a pinata and enjoy refreshments and dancing.

"Las Posadas, we used to do them at Christmas time," said Vicki Vega, another Our Roots member who was born and raised here. "It's the journey: You'd stop at the door and would be told whether to come in or not, depending on whose house was chosen that year to be the stable."

Also for Feliz Navidad, the Christmas season, Los Pastorelas (shepherd or passion plays), were annually staged in town by both amateur and professional groups, but are no longer performed.

Often improvised, these dramatizations of Bible stories date back to the Colonial Era in Mexican history when missionaries struggled to woo converts.

SEEING LESS OF EACH OTHER

The parents and grandparents of current members in Nuestras Raices used to live closer together and see more of each other.

"In Old Town, up on the hill, they did a lot together," Ceballos-DeLap said. "They'd celebrate together."

As economic conditions improved for them, Hispanic families left the original centers for early pioneers here.

"Los Chantes, Shantytown -- that's where a lot of families lived, and then slowly they moved around and started to buy property," said Lydia Anaya, of Our Roots.

When Hispanic families spread out, connections were lost.

"You'd get to see a lot of people you grew up with," Anaya said. "I think that was one of the reasons we started Nuestras Raices -- to get families back together. It worked."

The many parties and holiday festivities of earlier times in Flagstaff are missed.

"There were lots more back then," Gonzalez said. "In the '90s, a lot of festivals ceased -- no more dances, no more Cinco de Mayo."

The Sunnyside Neighborhood Association still puts on a Sunnyside Fiesta de Mayo Celebration in mid-May in Ponderosa Park. But it is no longer exactly linked to May 5th, when the Mexican army in 1862 defeated the French in the Battle of Puebla.

In September, the association also hosts the La Joya de Sunnyside Fiesta de Independencia to celebrate when the people of Mexico rose up against the Spanish crown in 1810.

CHURCH AS CULTURAL CENTER

Many holidays and other traditions are closely connected to the practice of the Catholic faith here, such as Easter and Christmas.

For Christmas, luminaria, which are candle displays inside paper bags or metal cans with punched designs, are still lit and placed along the steps up to the historic Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel on South Kendrick Street.

The church was built by Hispanic parishioners in 1926, with the first Mass in December of that year.

"Luminaria -- they're are used to mark a path for Jesus," Gonzalez said.

Other, more secular traditions still can have religious overtones, such as the quincenera, the celebration of a girl's 15th birthday and the passage from childhood to young womanhood, which can be combined with the Mass.

Although some of the newer Hispanic families in town may still celebrate quinceanera, older families in Flagstaff have mostly eliminated them.

"With six girls in our family, I don't think we could afford a quincenera," said Delia Ceballos Munoz, one of the founders of Nuestras Raices and the older sister of Ceballos-DeLap. "From what I've seen, it's a process, almost like a pre-wedding, having to put out a lot of money."

Munoz said because her mother was born here, "there were things she had to do to assimilate." To make life easier, traditions like the quincenera were dropped.

When the four Catholic parishes in Flagstaff were consolidated in 1996 into the current San Francisco de Asis Parish, the church sold off some properties, including the Our Lady of Guadalupe annex.

"They sold the big building they used to rent out for weddings and where they used to have bingo," Anaya said. "It's hard now to find a place to accommodate a lot of people."

Venues are especially hard to locate in the winter, "because we're in competition with everyone else," Ceballos-DeLap added.

Betsey Bruner can be reached at bbruner@azdailysun.com or 556-2255.