The origins of Día de los Muertos, which begins on Nov. "You either love it or hate it because it's like nothing else. "I'm sure some will have thousands of flowers and when you walk up to them, Boom! The smell will just hit you in the face," Jimenez said, laughing. "Our cempasúchil display will be small by comparison," she said, noting that some of the larger altars can include thick, carefully woven garlands of the flowers measuring 50 feet or more, draped over elaborate altar structures. She'll be adding a couple dozen flowers to a personal family altar for her father and sister, who are interred at the cemetery. And if you believe what the Aztecs believed, then your ancestors need the scent to find their way back to you," she said. "An altar just isn't complete without them. Still, Jimenez expects that will include thousands of the vibrant orange flowers, whose pungent scent comes from their leaves and stem. This year, because of COVID-19, that means limiting the number of altars from over 100 to just 80. Jimenez is the altar coordinator for the cemetery's annual Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, festival and oversees the installations of ofrendas put together by families commemorating their deceased loved ones. "I love that smell and I love that it just hangs in the air," she told NPR. The musky smell of marigolds, or cempasúchil, were thick throughout Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles on Saturday, and Angie Jimenez couldn't wait for it.
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