There is an ancient celebration that still lives on today. Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is a celebration of the dead, by the living, that happens each year on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 and 2. The tradition began in Mexico but has spread elsewhere, including throughout the United States.
The Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department celebrates Dia de los Muertos each year, and this year it’s getting the party started just a day early to coincide with the Sunday before All Saints’ Day. The Dia de los Muertos Festival is Oct. 30 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Veterans’ Memorial Community Center, both inside and at the Memorial Park there, explained Santa Maria Community Outreach Coordinator David Rodriguez, who said the festival is a “rain or shine” event.
“We are inviting everyone to come and join us,” Rodriguez said. “It’s about remembering your lost loved ones, showing some appreciation, and doing something nice that kind of celebrates their life.”
Locals are invited to register with the Recreation and Parks Department to make their own altar for a loved one in the Veterans Memorial Hall, where there will be lots of colorful decorations, altars, and live entertainment.
The festival also includes some additions that are new to the Santa Maria event, Rodriguez said, including a Catrin and Catrina contest. The contest is open to those who dress up in either traditional Dia de los Muertos garb—which includes a kind of Victorian dress with “skulleto” makeup—or even nontraditional dress that still celebrates Dia de los Muertos, Rodriguez explained.
“It doesn’t have to be the traditional dress; people can get creative,” he said. “If they want to modernize it, like with a celebrity or a superhero with the sugar skull face design, it can be modern, or whimsical, or traditional.”
There will be prizes awarded to a male and female in three age categories: kids, teens, and adults. The Catrin and Catrina contest is a fun addition that allows visitors to dress up in the vein of Halloween while also celebrating Dia de los Muertos, Rodriguez said.
The festival will also include vendors of various food, drink, and crafts. The event is a massive cultural celebration, bursting with color, performing art, and fun. A processional is lead by Aztec dancers who are followed by anyone who wants to walk with photos of their passed friends and family or trinkets that symbolize them.
Rodriguez said that the festival serves as an event that can bring together several layers of Santa Maria’s community, no matter their economic or cultural background.
“You don’t have to be Latin American or Hispanic to celebrate the lives of your loved ones,” he said, “and we thought this would be a great family festival to have in the Santa Maria community and get all these different cultures involved.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne is craving a sugar skull. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 27 – Nov 3, 2016.