In the spirit of activism, community members would be encouraged to visit the altar and hear union representatives speak, Segura-Chirino said. The workers who died in the Metro Rail tunnel project are Ismael Montes and Jaime Pasillas.
One of the people honored would be her mother, Olivia, a cannery worker who died last year at age 67 after a heart attack. “Most of our parents are immigrants and in this society they are not given credit for their contributions,” she said. Marta Segura-Chirino, 33, coordinating the altar, is the program manager for the Health and Safety Training Project at UCLA. Maldonado, 24, said his altar, on display at the Social and Public Art Resource Center, is a reaction to the passage of Propositions 187 and 209-the anti-illegal immigration and affirmative action measures.Īt Self Help Graphics, one altar is for immigrants who have died in industrial accidents this year in Los Angeles-two in the Metro Rail project. In the United States, it’s becoming very public.Īnd in Los Angeles this weekend, various altars and public celebrations can be found, from the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach to The Folk Tree in Pasadena. In Mexico, it is a private time, a time for family. The procession did show one American spin on the Day of the Dead. “It’s unfortunate that other people have missed the point,” Armas said. Also, many participants, dressed in costumes, did not seem to differentiate Dia de los Muertos from Halloween. In 1992, the gallery canceled a yearly procession that had grown to about 10,000 participants of all races, partly because it was too big for the gallery to finance. “It’s been the artists that have brought the holiday out to the larger community,” said Olivia Armas, the archivist at Galeria De La Raza in San Francisco’s Mission District, which began celebrations in the early 1970s.Ĭonveying the spirituality of the day was not easy. The renewed interest was chiefly among artists who popularized it with displays and processions at galleries and public places. We realized we were getting rid of something that was very beautiful.” “In many ways, Americanization was de-Mexicanization. In the United States, assimilation had nearly erased the holiday from Mexican American culture until the Chicano movement of the 1960s, Dominguez said. We want to be close to our family even when they’re dead.” children even go to another state to go to college. “We Mexicans are very sentimental,” said artist Joel Garcia, 41, recently as he worked in a Pasadena studio he visits to make Day of the Dead art he sells here. In the night they go to the cemeteries to await the spirits: According to tradition, the souls of children descend the first night, Nov.
To mock death, people give one another sugar skulls bearing the recipients’ names.Īnd to entice the spirits, families adorn altars with fresh fruits, the deceased’s favorite foods and drinks and a specially baked bread known as pan de muertos-bread for the dead. Today, in the states of Michoacan and Oaxaca, the holiday is a happy yet spiritual time.
They observed the holiday around the same time the Catholic Church observed All Souls Day-so when Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortes arrived in 1519, the holidays merged. A person’s life was merely a temporary dream. The origins of the Day of the Dead stretch back to folklore practices of central Mexico about 2,000 years ago, said Miguel Dominguez, a professor of Spanish at Cal State Dominguez Hills.īy the 16th century, the Aztecs had long believed death was the permanent human state and should not be feared. This year, close to 150 paid $35 each to attend sessions where they ate a dinner of tamales-vegetarian or meat-filled-watched a video about the holiday and decorated sugar skulls. Last year about 10 people came to one class.
in Studio City, where Sax participated in the workshop. doesn’t have an equivalent holiday,” said Angela Villalba, 38, who owns the Reign Trading Co. “The reason it’s becoming more popular is because the U.S. We have maintained its integrity but given it the American twist.” in East Los Angeles, which has displayed Day of the Dead works over the years. “That’s the way America takes culture,” said Tomas Benitez, director of Self Help Graphics and Art Inc.
0 kommentar(er)
