Photo courtesy of the Mat Bevel Institute

Street performance artists Flam Chen will bring their fiery show to the All Souls' Procession at the Mat Bevel Institute. The procession begins at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Thursday November 1, 2001

Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is a Mexican holiday that coincides with the Catholic holy days of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. While its origins are religious and ethnic, Tucsonans have embraced the holiday, and even added traditions of their own.

The Day of the Dead, which is today, is celebrated with altars, processions, and celebrations across Tucson throughout the weekend.

Dia de los Muertos, though seemingly an extension of Halloween, is a celebration and recognition of dead loved ones, not a macabre or depressing focus on death. One need not be religious or Hispanic to join the celebration: After all, everyone dies.

"It's an ongoing tradition for a number of organizations in the downtown area. We're doing a community altar in front of the (main branch) library as a way for people in the community to remember loved ones who have passed away or victims of the terrorist attack," Jorge Gonzalez Garcia, communications director for the Tucson Arts District, said.

The Tucson Arts District partnership, located at 2 E. Congress St., has compiled a list of events going on downtown. Gonzalez Garcia offered some history behind the tradition.

"In smaller towns in Mexico, families will do a couple of different things. They'll put together an altar, or 'ofrenda,' which means 'offering,' in their house. They'll decorate it with flowers, usually marigolds, photographs of their loved one, candles and incense. They put items that were significant in the life of the loved one that passed away," Gonzalez Garcia said.

Some Tucson events encompass this more traditional celebration of Dia de los Muertos, which also includes visiting and cleaning the gravesites of relatives and specials Masses and prayers.

Others, however, are less traditional. Local Tucson artists established their own celebration of Dia de los Muertos in 1989. The celebration is less religious, but no less spiritual, making it an experience open to everyone.

"The entire spirit of this treatment of death is that it's something to be celebrated, or at least reacted to," Diane Daly, space manager of the Mat Bevel Institute, said. "We have a strong artist community that bonds together; it's a mix of a dedicated community of people and the fact that we don't let it get too political. We don't let it get too alienating of any religion or culture."

This year's procession, which ends at the Mat Bevel Institute, starts at MUSE, 516 N. Fifth Ave., at 8 p.m. Saturday and proceeds downtown to the Institute.

Flam Chen, Crawdaddy-O, Tucson PuppetWorks and Molehill will join the procession, along with thousands of people.

This particular procession has strong ties to the artistic community. More than 10 years ago, artist Susan Johnson held a three-day performance of her art inspired by the death of her father, which began the tradition of the artists' procession.

"In 1989, she decided - just after the death of her father - to have a three-day homage to him, in Day of the Dead fashion," Daly said. "The public was really curious and the communities of artists were just struck by what she did. It went from one person mourning publicly to a procession mourning publicly."

"The procession is done by local artists. It's a more contemporary interpretation," Gonzalez Garcia said. "It's not restricted to people who follow the strict Catholic interpretation. It's really a cultural buffet."

Another unusual celebration is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which has an altar set up to commemorate the spirits of the plants and animals of the museum.

The Arizona State Museum has an unusual altar of its own, designed by resident artists Martin Kim, Taffy Kim, Rhod Lauffer and Nancy Chilton.

"This unique, contemporary, and collaborative installation features 500 images of hands meant to represent the unimaginable number of lives lost in New York City and Washington, D.C. in the events of Sept. 11," Darlene Lizaragga, marketing coordinator for the museum, said in a press release.

While all this may seem morbid, it's really not. Children decorate sugar skulls and calacas (paper skeletons) with smiling faces. The dead are depicted as joyful, busy and sometimes comical in the afterlife.

"If you go to a cemetery, the feeling is not one of sadness or sorrow," Gonzalez Garcia said. "It's more of happiness and celebration."