FESTIVALS & EVENTS : Dead Are Finally Getting Their Due in O.C.

Orange County residents with Mexican roots or those who appreciate the culture no longer have to journey north to Los Angeles to publicly celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). From art exhibits to church-sponsored festivals, the Nov. 2 holiday of remembering deceased relatives or friends is being brought to life in the county in a big way this weekend.

Dia de los Muertos is the fusion of beliefs and rituals of the indigenous Indians of central and southern Mexico and the Roman Catholic tradition of All Souls Day. In their attempts to convert the Indians to Catholicism, the Spanish conquistadors realized they could not obliterate all of the 5,000-year-old customs, so they allowed certain ones to continue and a new tradition developed.

In contrast to the terror Halloween evokes, including the negative view of death involving demons and witches in black, the customs associated with Dia de los Muertos both mock and embrace death as a part of mortality. The holiday awakes and welcomes lost loved ones and validates life for the living. Skeletons smile and the decorations are in bright colors.

Both Latino and non-Latino artists have brought attention to Dia de los Muertos in Los Angeles in the last decade, altering the focus slightly. “The focus is cultural more than just on the tradition for the dead,” said Lynn LaBate, exhibition administrator of the Fullerton Museum Center.

LaBate is responsible for bringing the first major Day of the Dead exhibit to Orange County this year--”Day of the Dead: A Consequence of Life” at the Fullerton Museum Center (see story, Page 4).

Also for the first time in Orange County, 600 to 1,000 parishioners from 14 predominantly Latino Catholic churches will convene at Holy Sepulchral in Orange Canyon this Saturday at 2 p.m. (Non-parishioners are also welcome.) Msgr. Jaime Soto will celebrate Mass in Spanish, followed by a cultural festival featuring the traditional Los Biejitos (the old men) dance by the San Juan Capistrano Ballet Folklorico. “We’re trying to do as much as we can like the Mexican tradition, which is very important to Hispanics in Orange County,” said Juanita Villalobos, secretary of the Hispanic Ministry Office of the Diocese.

The centerpiece of the observance, the ofrenda (offering), is widely used by artists this side of the border to make social or political statements. Traditionally set up in the home, the ofrenda is decorated with the deceased’s photograph, favorite foods and mementos, as well as candles and flowers.

Artist Ricardo Duffy this year dedicated his memorial to AIDS victims. His ofrenda, at the first Day of the Dead exhibit at Studio Space Gallery in Laguna Beach, will have an open jar for gallery-goers to submit the names of loved ones lost to AIDS.

Duffy, 40, whose work is now appearing in four Dia de los Muertos exhibits in Los Angeles and Orange counties, grew up in Monterey Park and moved to Laguna Canyon seven years ago. “I see the new version of the holiday as a blending of North and Latin American influences. It’s an outlet for reflecting the whole community,” Duffy said. “But it’s also part of the Latino movement here.”

Other objects commonly found on ofrendas and as part of the day’s festivities are paper decorations, called papel picado , and smiling skulls made of a sugar and water paste and detailed with brightly colored icing.

Pan de muerto (literally defined as bread of the dead) is baked only for this holiday and is shaped to resemble cadavers or bones and glazed with honey or sugar. “We use dough to form the mouth, the eyes and eyelashes--which are closed--for all the details,” explained Consuelo Guzman of La Espiga de Oro bakery in Santa Ana. Guzman’s bakery is one of the few Mexican bakeries in the county that sells pan de muerto without a special order.

Although the thought of eating sugar skulls and sweet bread bones might not sound appealing, for Day of the Dead observers the images symbolize mortality. And consuming symbols of death is one way to get over the fear.

The brightly colored, smiling skeleton motif is also catching on within circles of folk art collectors and pop-culture enthusiasts (including the pop-rock band Oingo Boingo) as Mathew Southgate has discovered. The 19-year-old Santa Ana resident journeys to Mexico every two months, bringing back folk art and postcards to sell to private clients and at cultural festivals. His Dia de los Muertos objects sell out the fastest.

Mathew’s mother, Genevieve Barrios-Southgate, has taken her passion for Day of the Dead to elementary schools and colleges, as a guest lecturer on the subject. “The traditions involved, the creativity of this holiday, is significant for religious and non-religious people,” she said. “It’s celebrating life after death with the concept that your memory can live on and be honored after death.”

* Contemporary paintings and sculpture of Dia de los Muertos at the Studio Space Gallery, 326 N. Pacific Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. Open daily, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., from Friday, Nov. 1, to Dec. 1; gala opening Saturday, Nov. 2, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission: free. (714) 497-2948.

* Mass and festival at the Holy Sepulchral, 7845 Santiago Canyon Road, Orange. Mass begins at 2 p.m., the festivities continue from 3 to 5 p.m. Call the Diocese for more information: (714) 974-7120.