THE TIES THAT BIND : Arts Festival Tries to Help Young Latinos Understand, Appreciate Their Heritage

Alfredo Calderon divides much of his time between refining the delicate art of Mexican mask making and defining the history of Mexican folklore.

For the last 10 years, the 34-year-old teacher and artist from Pacoima has done extensive work and research on both and concludes that, among those of Mexican descent living in the United States, Mexican culture may be on a rapidly deteriorating path.

“The youth in the new generation are going through a serious loss of cultural identity--they are becoming generic Americans,” Calderon said. “They think eating a few tacos and knowing a little of the language is what being Mexican is all about. With that line of thought, how can traditions be passed on?”

Building Support for Traditions

In an effort to build a better understanding of and increase support for these traditions, the Mexican-American Arts Council has for eight years sponsored a festival called “La Jamaica.” Calderon was one of 27 Latino artists and craftsmen showcasing their work at this year’s event, held Sunday at the Bowers Museum Courtyard in Santa Ana. Activities ranged from pinata making to detailed Mexican baking. As of mid-afternoon, the festival had attracted about 300 people, organizers said.

“Events such this one do help in increasing the awareness of others,” Calderon said from his booth, which displayed many of the masks he has made. “Learning can take place through so many different channels.”

Calderon, who moved to California from Michoacan, Mexico, in 1964, said he developed his interest in his native country’s folklore and mask making at a time when people were trying to deny their ethnic origins.

‘You Had to Assimilate’

“I arrived in (the United States) during the period where you had to assimilate in order to survive,” Calderon said. “There was no support for immigrants, so it was very easy to forget or at least to try to forget where you came from.”

After a short time in the United States, he developed what he calls a mental renaissance that prompted him to study the history of Mexico before the 1600s.

“We tend to see ourselves and the country of Mexico as something that didn’t exist before we were colonized, before the Europeans . . . ‘discovered us’ and said we existed. Our art, music and customs began long before that, and I try to show that through my art,” Calderon said.

It is a lesson he shares with students at the Junior Arts Center in Los Angeles, where he teaches clay mask making. His masks represent various periods in Mexican history, including the Mayan and Aztecan. Prices start at $75 and go as high as $1,500.

“Making the mask doesn’t take as much time as doing the actual research,” Calderon said. “It takes going back and truly understanding the culture and ideas of people at the time and of course learning from our forefathers.”

Another participant at the festival, Ose Arugio, 55, of Santa Ana, said he did learn valuable lessons from his ancestors. At age 11, in the same village of Michoacan, his grandfather taught him the craft of of huarache sandal making just as he had taught Arugio’s father before him.

“Everyone in the family learned how to make the shoes,” said Arugio, who has lived in California for 30 years and owns a shoe store in Los Angeles. “It is a way of life and I taught each of my sons and daughters the art of it, so it is something that won’t die for generations to come.”

At Sunday’s festival, Ricardo Cardenea of Santa Ana stood with his 1-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son at the site of a pinata breaking, wishing they could see an authentic pinata celebration back in his native state of Zacatecas, Mexico.

“I think this is really nice and great for people like me who have kids and want them to know about their history,” Cardenea said. “Though some of the things are not the same, they are trying to recognize our way of life and that is what is important. I am glad I decided to stop.”