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Day of the Dead festivities planned
around North County
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North County residents will celebrate departed family and friends in the
coming days as colleges, libraries, city agencies, arts centers and galleries
join forces to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, Mexico's traditional Day of the
Dead.
The MainStreet Oceanside Association hosts the region's biggest event, with an
estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people expected this weekend at its fourth annual Day
of the Dead festival.
On Monday, the Museum, California Center for the Arts, Escondido, presents its ninth annual community altar celebration hosted by Mexican artist Eloy Tarcisio. Cal State San Marcos will revive its annual Day of the Dead festival on Monday (it was canceled last year because of the wildfires). And MiraCosta and Palomar Colleges have dances and exhibitions.
In spite of its name, Day of the Dead ---- traditionally celebrated in Mexico
on Nov. 1 and 2 ---- is really an upbeat event. The Mexican people consider the
day a happy time when they honor the human spirit through remembering their
ancestors by visiting the graveyards to clean up and decorate family headstones.
Many people mistakenly assume Day of the Dead is a pagan celebration because of
its seemingly morbid imagery, but the event is actually rooted in the concept of
death and rebirth and its historical roots stretch back more than 3,000 years,
according to Carlos von Son, a Spanish professor at Cal State San Marcos who is
organizing Day of the Dead activities in Oceanside and San Marcos.
In the Mexican culture, Day of the Dead marks the one time of year when the
souls of the deceased return to Earth briefly. Families mark the time with
festivities and reunions. Altars, or ofrenda, are created as a place to leave
the departed person's most treasured items, including photographs of the
deceased, flowers, incense, favorite foods, mementos and candles. Also popular
are decorated skulls made out of sugar and models of skeletons, often decorated
or dressed with items that belonged to the deceased loved ones, von Son said.
The history of Day of the Dead will be explained in words and drama at the
Oceanside festival. Von Son's bilingual theater troupe, Grupo de Teatro
Dionisio, will stage a short Spanish-language play about the history of the
event called "Ofrenda" at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Oceanside Library's community
room downtown. Von Son wrote the play and his brother, Guillermo von Son, came
up from Mexico to direct the production. The play is being produced and
choreographed by Lydia Tonantzin.
After the performance, von Son will lead playgoers on a candelit procession
across the street to the Phantom Gallery at 212 E. North Coast Highway, where an
exhibit of Day of the Dead and Mexico-themed photographs by Tim O'Reilly, Dave
Thomas and himself will be on display. Then at 3 p.m. Sunday, von Son will offer
a free history lecture on the event at the Phantom Gallery (the lecture will be
repeated at 3:30 p.m. in Spanish).
The festival's main events take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday on Pier View
Way, when 10 local Oaxacan families will build altars for lost loved ones and 10
other altars will be built by local artists. Mellano and Company is donating
more than 30,000 marigolds (the Aztecs' traditional flower of the dead) for use
in the altar displays.
Visitors can watch the altars being built and can take part in their own
remembrance at the expanded chalk cemetery in Artist's Alley at 212 N. Coast
Highway, said Mary Ann Thiem, festival committee chairwoman and a board member
for MainStreet Oceanside.
"Last year, the chalk area was the most popular part of the festival, both with
our artists and the people who came to watch," Thiem said. "Anyone who wants to
create a chalk memorial will be given chalk, a candle and some flowers that they
can use however they want to decorate a section of the walkway."
The festival will also feature an expanded children's craft area hosted by the
Oceanside Museum of Art where children can make dancing skeletons, masks, paper
flowers and sugar skulls.
Live entertainment is also planned, with performances by Imagen Azteca, Latin a
Go Go, Piece by Peace Mariachi and a ballet folklorico troupe.
And there will be booths selling food, drinks and themed Day of the Dead gifts
and crafts.
Here is a list of other North County events:
- Cal State San Marcos will revive its Day of the Dead festival from 11 a.m. to
1 p.m. Monday. The eighth annual festival last year was canceled because of the
wildfires in the region, but it returns this year in a scaled-down form. Altars
created by students, staff and faculty will be on display. Members of the public
are invited to bring photos and artifacts to build their own altars. The free
festival was first presented in 1995 by then-student Linda Amador, who was
taking a class at the university from Chicano artist David Avalos. Professor
Carlos von Son became involved in the festival after that. Admission is free but
a parking fee is required. For details, call (760) 750-4870.
- Palomar College in San Marcos presents its eighth annual Day of the Dead
exhibition now on display through Nov. 16 in the campus library's second floor
at 1140 W. Mission Road, San Marcos. An exhibit created by Spanish professor
Martha Velasco and her students features 10 altars with photos, mementos,
flowers, sugar skulls and traditional foods honoring beloved family members.
Velasco said that one altar honors those who died on Sept. 11, 2001. She said
the purpose of the exhibit is to expose Latin culture to her students. Day of
the Dead is associated with Mexico but Velasco said is also a popular cultural
tradition in Bolivia and Guatemala, and examples of celebrations in those
countries are on display. For details, call (760) 744-1150.
- MiraCosta College celebrates Day of the Dead with an ongoing art exhibit,
running through Nov. 8, in the Student Center cafeteria at the Oceanside campus,
1 Barnard Drive. The art exhibit, featuring sugar skulls, drawings, altars and
more, was organized by the MEChA student organization, which is also planning a
Day of the Dead dance from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday in the campus dining room.
Tickets to the dance are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Also on Saturday,
Spanish teacher Cathy House will lead her students on an educational visit to
Tijuana where they can learn about Day of the Dead. For details on these events,
call (760) 757-2121.
- The California Center for the Arts, Escondido hosts its ninth annual Day of
the Dead art exhibition beginning Monday.
As in previous years, Mexican artist Eloy Tarcisio will return to the center to
create an original site-specific altar for the center's annual "Muerte de todos:
Ofrenda de participacion" ("Death Comes to Everyone: A Participatory Offering")
in the sculpture garden of the center's museum at 340 N. Escondido Blvd.
Each year, Tarcisio builds up to 100 altars of small wooden crosses, votive
candles and clay bowls filled with grains, beans and other organic materials
associated with Mexico's pre-Hispanic past. He invites members of the community
to bring personal items and leave them at the exhibition to honor those who have
died and to light the votives in honor of their loved ones.
Tarcisio adds something new to his exhibit each year. In 2000, he covered a
trellis in marigolds. In 2001, he designed a large red altar and in 2002, he
created a large cross display decorated with marigolds.