Day of Dead Takes On Festive Air in Southland

Southern Californians in the past decade have transformed Dia de los Muertos--Day of the Dead--into a celebration of Mexican culture, heritage and folk art with avant-garde exhibits, street festivals and mock funeral processions.

These activities contrast sharply with the observance in Mexico, where Dia de los Muertos is viewed as a holiday of respectful mourning. The holiday there is a blend of the rituals commemorating the spirits by the indigenous Indians of central and southern Mexico and the Roman Catholic tradition of All Souls’ Day.

“Here it is seen as an attraction,” said Mexican folk artist Jose Fernandez. “In Mexico, when there is a ceremonial altar in a house, you must kneel and pray. But here in California, (the altar) is complimented and discussed as a piece of (artistic) expression.”

Dia de los Muertos altars are a central part of the holiday’s ritual. They are decorated with mementos and favorite foods of the deceased, skulls made of sugar, papier-mache skeletons, pan de muerto (bread of the dead) shaped as bones, skeletons and skulls, and crowned with paper decorations known as papel picado . The altar represents an offering--or ofrenda --to the spirit of the loved one honored.

Although Mexican specialty bakeries here sell the sugar skulls and pan de muerto, the quantities sold are far smaller than in Mexico. Day of the Dead altars are rarely displayed in Southern California homes, instead appearing more frequently in public exhibits, such as the large annual show at Self-Help Graphics in East Los Angeles.

Sandra Romero is among a small number of people who set up altars in their homes every November. Even more rare is that Romero keeps the tradition alive although her family came to the United States from Durango, Mexico, three generations ago.

“Dia de los Muertos in my house is like Christmastime. I get all my family involved. I want them to be comfortable with death and talk freely about it,” Romero said. She added that building an altar has become even more significant since the death two years ago of her husband, to whom she was married for 17 years.

“The altar gets more elaborate each year. I make special things like the frames for displaying photos and papier-mache decorations. I also put my husband’s guitar, his favorite books and even Butterfinger candy bars--he loved them,” she explained. “I also put religious artifacts, pan dulce and corn. For me it’s sharing and keeping precious memories alive.”

Romero has seen the popularity of Dia de los Muertos events grow, and she has mixed feelings about the possibility of losing the significance of the day’s sacred rituals to commercial fads.

“I guess some people exploit it to make money because it’s popular,” she said. “But all in all, I think that when any cultural tradition is celebrated it gets the whole community thinking about the different people living in that community.”

That sentiment appears to be shared generally by participants in local events, who see Dia de los Muertos as a springboard for honoring Mexican culture. Some organizers, such as Eduardo Sanchez, cultural coordinator of Centro de Accion Social in Pasadena, predict that the commercialism will wane as the holiday becomes more integrated in California tradition.

Day of the Dead is also seen by some in the Mexican-American community as a celebration of life and as an outlet to make a statement about how society treats death.

“It’s more contemporary here than in Mexico,” said Laguna Beach-based sculptor Ricardo Duffy, who grew up “east of East L.A.” in the area now incorporated as Monterey Park. “It’s become more of an arts and cultural event in Southern California. As we invent and reinterpret our own aesthetic, combining North and South American mass culture, we are making a social statement,” he said.

Billy Shire, owner of La Luz de Jesus in Hollywood, notes the popularity of the holiday’s imagery--the bright colors, smiling skulls and skeletons donning sombreros. He said this imagery seems to mock death, in contrast to the feeling of fear and spooking that are associated with Halloween, an event unrelated to Day of the Dead.

“The imagery has caught on and become close to underground pop culture,” Shire said. His gallery, located above the Soap Plant on Melrose Avenue, opened five years ago to exhibit Mexican folk art, especially pieces associated with Day of the Dead.

Many participants in Day of the Dead activities, such as Sister Karen Boccalero, director of Self-Help Graphics, said that facing death without fear is becoming increasingly essential as the death toll from cancer and AIDS rises.

“It’s something you have to do with a certain kind of courage. With so many terminal illnesses, with AIDS, we have to realize death to appreciate life,” said Boccalero.

“The other (Mexican) holidays are very political,” said Consuelo F. Norte, a curator of Latin American art. “You’re essentially celebrating war. Dia de los Muertos does not have political significance. It transcends any limitations set by cultural boundaries because every nationality celebrates birth and mourns death.”