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In this photo from the Oceanside's 2006 Dia De Las Muertos Festival,
Candise Lopez and son Santiago, 4, make a chalk memorial for Santiago's
grandfathers Rafael Lopez and Jerry White. The annual festival returns
Sunday to downtown Oceanside. |
Dia de los
Muertos Festival still a 'go' for Sunday
OCEANSIDE -- With fire and destruction around all around, a festival called
Dia de los Muertos -- Day of the Dead -- might seem like the last event anyone
would want to be at this Sunday.
But it is not depressing, said Cathy Nykiel of MainStreet Oceanside, a business
association that is playing host to its seventh annual Dia de los Muertos
Festival downtown from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Instead, she added, the
festival will be a bright spot for the community.
"It's not morbid," Nykiel said. "It's a celebration of life, the lives of people we've known. It's not Halloween. It's a celebration of those who aren't with us any more, and how they've impacted us."
The festival, which has its roots in ancient Mexico, features elaborate
ofrendas, or altars, whimsical skeletons and candy skulls. The idea is to mock
death, to show that life is always to be enjoyed and relished and especially to
honor those who have passed away, said Nykiel. The holiday officially coincides
with the Roman Catholic feast days of All Saints' Day (Nov. 1) and All Souls'
Day (Nov. 2).
"It started in Oaxaca, Mexico," said Nykiel, who is coordinating the event.
"Families would go to the graveyard, clean up the plots, then have a meal
'together', " symbolically with the family members who had died, to show that
they were still remembered. The favorite foods and even the belongings of the
deceased would be brought to the gravesite and included in the celebration.
Several Oaxacan families from the area, as well as those from the Michoacan
region, will be part of Oceanside's festival, said Nykiel.
The festival will also include a parade, four community altars open for public
use, and traditional Dia merchandise, including "bread of the dead," which is
shaped like skeletons, and other macabre munchies.
Music, cultural food and children's fun are also part of the afternoon, and the
Red Cross will be holding a blood drive. Even the looks of the festival are
enough reason to draw a crowd. Thirty thousand marigolds will decorate the
street and the ofrendas, donated this year by Mike Mellano of Mellano and
Company, a southern California family-owned floral chain.
Artists from The International University in Cuernavaca, Mexico, as well as
local students and families, will build modern-day ofrendas. International
studies professor Carlos von Son from Palomar and MiraCosta colleges will
conduct tours of the displays and will explain their historical context and the
significance of the modern celebrations.
The modern celebration of Halloween should not be confused with the Day of the
Dead, Nykiel said. It is not appropriate to show up in a grotesque or
frightening costume. "This is totally different from Halloween. It's not
supposed to be scary," she said.
Nykiel understands that the name Dia de los Muertos might sound grim, especially
considering the immense destruction of the recent wildfires. She said the
MainStreet Association had had second thoughts about the festival.
"We asked (participating groups) whether we should not have the festival," she
said. "But someone said, 'It's a holiday whether or not the fires are going on.
We're going to celebrate whether we have a festival or not.'"
Call (760) 754-4512, or visit www.msoceanside.com.