Inside was an altar to her bright, talented 21-year-old daughter, Serena Armendariz, who was killed last year fleeing a flurry of bullets meant for somebody else.

But Montaño's 9-year-old nephew, Anthony, who made the altar for his adored cousin, had invited her as his "very special guest of honor," so she continued on.

The altar, and more than 20 like it, was produced as a class project by fourth-graders at Carrillo Elementary School, 440 S. Main Ave., to commemorate the centuries-old Mexican Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

The altars reach far beyond the confines of classroom walls to welcome the spirits of the dead and invite them to mingle, if only for a couple of days, in the land of the living once again.

"The scent of the flowers helps them find their way back to Tucson," explained Anthony's classmate, 9-year-old Julieta Hernandez. Julieta helped sprinkle the petals leading to the exhibition room at La Pilita Museum, across the street from Carrillo and next door to El Tiradito Shrine on South Main Street, where the altars will be on display until Nov. 5.

The altars consist of photos, mementos, sugar skulls and handwritten letters honoring the dead. In creating them, the children have also helped to heal the hearts of the living.

"I'll be honest, I wept when I saw the altar," said Anthony's father and Serena's uncle, Tony Gonzalez, a veteran Tucson firefighter. "It was the first time I let myself grieve my niece's death. Anthony gave me that gift."

The altars are the result of nearly two months of preparation led by fourth-grade teacher Sandra Montiel Castell.

At the heart of each altar is a handwritten letter in wobbly fourth-grade script. The letters speak of beloved grandfathers who died because they ate too much sugar, or a loyal family friend with leukemia whose life was cut short by a transfusion gone wrong. One reads simply: "I choose you because you always loved me and I always loved you."

Julieta wrote about her Tia Marta, who died along with her stillborn child while Julieta was visiting her in Hidalgo, Mexico.

"She was my favorite," Julieta said, pointing out the dancing shoes and mug for hot chocolate she put alongside a smiling photo of her aunt. "You put in things they loved or things that remind you of them"

Other altars display a neatly folded flannel shirt, a bag of pistachios, a set of dominoes.

Día de los Muertos was created soon after the Spanish arrived in Mexico. It's a blending of Catholic All Saints' and All Souls' days, celebrated Nov. 1 and 2, with the indigenous belief that spirits of the dead mingle among the living, said University of Arizona history Professor William Beezley. The holiday became especially important in the late 16th century because of the tremendous number of deaths that followed from epidemics brought by the Spaniards, he said.

The holiday serves to unite families, much as Christmas and Thanksgiving do in the United States, except that in Mexico, the concept of family extends to those who have passed away, Beezley said.

NEXT PAGE» 1, 2