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Oceanside to host Day of the Dead
celebration
EDWARD SIFUENTES
Staff Writer
As North County's Latino population grows, so does its influence on the cultural
fabric of North County, as evidenced in this year's Dia de los Muertos, or Day
of the Dead, celebration in the city of Oceanside.
The traditional Mexican holiday is an opportunity for families to remember dead loved ones and celebrate their memory through food, art, song and prayer.
This year, Oceanside will celebrate Day of the Dead with a four-day cultural,
educational and social event featuring traditional altars, music concerts and
film screenings, capped by a daylong, multicultural festival. The event will
take place Nov. 1-4.
"We're presenting this because there's quite a large Hispanic population in the
county, and because Oceanside is very diverse and very driven to learn about
this cultural tradition," said Ted Garrett, executive director of Main Street
Oceanside, which will sponsor the festivities.
Garrett said he hopes the event will attract some 10,000 people to Oceanside,
which would make it one of the largest Day of the Dead celebrations in the
county.
On the first day of the event, Oaxacan families from around North County will
create altars traditionally used in Mexico to remember loved ones by bringing
together the family member's favorite foods, drinks, flowers, toys, photographs
and art works.
In pre-Columbian Mexico, where the roots of the celebration lie, death was seen
as part of nature's cycle of life, and worship of death involved worship of
life, according to historians. Those traditions were transformed by the
introduction of Catholicism by the Spanish conquistadors.
Aztec rituals presided by the goddess of death were moved to coincide with the
Catholic celebration of All Hallows Eve and All Souls Day, Nov. 1 and 2
respectively, creating Dia de los Muertos.
Though the celebration has changed over time and is celebrated differently by
different people within Mexico, Day of the Dead for Oaxacans is one of the most
traditional holidays. Many of the families that now live in North County still
build altars in their homes, said Jose Gonzalez, an Oceanside resident from
Oaxaca.
"This is a very special day for us, and we were very happy to be asked to
participate in this event," Gonzalez said.
On the second day of the event, there will be an All Soul's Day Mass at St.
Mary's Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Oceanside. Following the Mass, there
will be a candlelight procession through downtown to visit each of the eight
altars on display.
"I think the neatest part of the event is going to be Friday night, the
transition from the Mass into the Oaxacan experience, that's going to be neat,"
said Rocky Chavez, one of the main organizers of the event.
Chavez, a retired U.S. Marine colonel, said the Day of the Dead will give people
a chance to recognize how life in America has changed since the terrorist
attacks and that "there is a price for freedom."
"Dia de los Muertos puts death in its proper perspective, as a part of life," he
said.
One of the altars created by the Oaxacan families will be dedicated to the lives
lost during the Sept. 11 attacks.
The procession will end at Regal Cinema Plaza, where a Oaxacan band will play
traditional music.
On the third day, there will be a lecture by Carlos von Son, a professor of
literature a t Cal State San Marcos, at Oceanside's Hattie "Sunshine" Brooks
Theater.
The lecture, which will explain the origins of and meaning of Dia de los
Muertos, will be accompanied by a screening of "La Ofrenda: The Days of the
Dead," a documentary film by Lourdes Portillo.
During Dia de los Muertos, families in Mexico visit their loved one's graves and
groom their tombs with paint, candles, sing songs and recite poems, von Son
said. It is a time when Mexicans believe the souls of dead family members can
visit the living and share in the celebration.
For Mexico after independence from Spain, Dia de los Muertos also became a
vehicle for voicing political dissent.
"Mocking of death is a mixture of the comic and tragic perspective of the
Mexican world view," von Son said. "Dia de los Muertos became a period when you
could mock the president, when Mexican presidents were untouchable."
On the last day of the event, there will be a daylong festival at Pier View Way
and North Tremont Street. The multicultural festival will feature jazz and
reggae music, food and a marketplace for vendors.
Garrett, Main Street's executive director, said he hopes the Day of the Dead
celebration will become an annual event for Oceanside.
"We anticipate this will become the major event for the fall," Garrett said.
Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 745-3769 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.
10/21/01
