Dia De Los Muertos
Dia De Los Muertos
By: Jon Hammond
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
Viewed 399 times
0 responses 0 comments Dancing skeletons and bright orange marigolds swirled together beneath blue skies, paper cut-out decorations fluttered in the autumn breeze and music enlivened the atmosphere last Saturday as the National Chavez Center at Keene celebrated the ancient festival of Dia de los Muertos.
The “Day of the Dead” celebration was firmly established before the Spanish ever sighted (or blighted) the New World. Indigenous peoples living in what is now Mexico and Guatemala held an annual feast to remember and honor deceased loved ones, both to safely guide spirits to the afterlife and to encourage the dead to continue visiting their living relatives and friends.
Not a somber event, Dia de los Muertos is colorful and celebratory though still respectful of those who have passed away. By involving all members of the family including young children in the festivities, the occasion tends to remove some of the fear and sorrow associated with death.
Sometimes mistakenly confused with Halloween, Dia de los Muertos is both older and more spiritual in nature. There is an abundance of skeleton imagery, since the event honors the deceased, but no other Halloween trappings — no witches, no vampires, no zombies or ghouls. The dead being remembered are your dead, not sinister strangers, and there is no evil intent.
With its beautiful walled courtyard, fountains and rose gardens surrounding the grave of United Farm Workers co-founder Caesar Chavez, the National Chavez Center is an ideal place to host a Dia de los Muertos ceremony. It would no doubt please Caesar to have his final resting place enlivened by music, flowers, dancing, appreciative crowds and laughing children — including his own grandchildren and nieces and nephews.
La Paz itself, the longtime headquarters of the UFW, has seen many small Dia de los Muertos celebrations, but the November 3 gathering was the first time the National Chavez Center has held a large public “Day of the Dead” and plans are already underway to make this an annual event.
All the major elements associated with the Dia de los Muertos tradition were present at the National Chavez Center, including candles to light the way for the dead (velas), elaborate paper cut-outs (papel picado), specially baked bread to offer the deceased (pan de muerto), purifying pine incense (copal) and, of course, marigolds (cempasúchil), the official flower of Dia de los Muertos festivals.
Musicians and performers included Ballet Folklorico Tehachapi Dagós, Mariachi Real de la Viña, Trio Huastecos Del Mar, Ballet Folklorico Escuelas Unidas, Grupo Gavilanes del Norte and Louie Cruz Beltran. There were also poetry readings by UFW president Arturo Rodriguez, Norma Gaspar and Carlos Gomez.
I stop by the National Chavez Center from time to time and I enjoy the usual serenity of the courtyard and garden, but it was also great to see the place full of sound and motion as participants both celebrated life and embraced death.
Have a good week.
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