Angelus News | October 25, 2019 | Vol. 4 No. 36
Young dancers from Ballet Folklórico Herencia Mexicana at St. Agatha in Mid-City at the first “Día de los Muertos” celebration 2014 at Calvary Cemetery in East LA. On Page 10, Pilar Marrero reports on how both the cultural and religious aspects of the traditional Mexican feast of “Día de los Muertos” (“Day of the Dead”) have created an opportunity for evangelization in Los Angeles. On Page 14, R.W. Dellinger gives a look into the daily reality of life and death seen through the eyes of three employees at a local Catholic cemetery.
Young dancers from Ballet Folklórico Herencia Mexicana at St. Agatha in Mid-City at the first “Día de los Muertos” celebration 2014 at Calvary Cemetery in East LA. On Page 10, Pilar Marrero reports on how both the cultural and religious aspects of the traditional Mexican feast of “Día de los Muertos” (“Day of the Dead”) have created an opportunity for evangelization in Los Angeles. On Page 14, R.W. Dellinger gives a look into the daily reality of life and death seen through the eyes of three employees at a local Catholic cemetery.
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A feast for the departed<br />
How a Mexican cultural tradition has become a way to bring<br />
Angelenos closer to God<br />
BY PILAR MARRERO / ANGELUS<br />
PILAR MARRERO<br />
For the second year in a row,<br />
28-year-old Jeannette Vasquez,<br />
her siblings, mother, and other<br />
family members will come together at<br />
Santa Clara Cemetery in Oxnard to<br />
create a traditional Day of the Dead<br />
altar in honor of her father, Rafael,<br />
who died Oct. 2, 2015.<br />
On the altar,<br />
along with<br />
pictures of<br />
their loved<br />
one, they will<br />
place the traditional<br />
sugar<br />
skulls, several<br />
pieces of<br />
special sweet<br />
bread or “pan<br />
de muerto”<br />
(“bread of<br />
the dead”),<br />
bottles of<br />
the Mexican<br />
soda he loved<br />
and the exact<br />
brand of hot<br />
chiles he preferred<br />
to eat.<br />
A few weeks<br />
ago, they had<br />
a Mass in his<br />
honor to mark<br />
the anniversary<br />
of his passing.<br />
For this Southern California family<br />
of Mexican origin, the point of the<br />
Day of the Dead (more commonly<br />
known as “Día de los Muertos” in<br />
Spanish) celebration is to honor the<br />
memory of their loved one. But now<br />
that they’ve immersed themselves in<br />
the altar-making as well as joined other<br />
families doing the same at Calvary<br />
Cemetery in East LA, they feel they<br />
are also celebrating his life.<br />
“We knew of this tradition, but we<br />
had never physically created an altar<br />
for anyone,” Vasquez said. “We did it<br />
last year and loved the event so much<br />
we decided to do it again. It is true<br />
that there is sadness in this remembrance,<br />
but this allows us to also feel<br />
the happiness.”<br />
ingrained in Mexican culture, and to<br />
a lesser extent, in those of other Latin<br />
American countries.<br />
According to Ernesto Vega, who oversees<br />
Adult Faith Formation in Spanish<br />
for the archdiocese, the version of the<br />
Day of the Dead celebrated in Southern<br />
California and all over Mexico<br />
has its roots<br />
in pre-Hispanic<br />
cultural<br />
traditions<br />
blended with<br />
the traditional<br />
Catholic festivities<br />
of All<br />
Saints’ Day<br />
(<strong>No</strong>v. 1) and<br />
All Souls’ Day<br />
(<strong>No</strong>v. 2).<br />
“For the<br />
Anahuac<br />
(pre-Hispanic)<br />
cultures,<br />
the indigenous<br />
had a<br />
concept of life<br />
after death in<br />
Accompanied by her children, a woman visits the grave at Calvary Cemetery of the great-aunt who raised her.<br />
Like the Vasquez family, thousands<br />
of others are expected to participate<br />
in the Day of the Dead celebrations<br />
in two Catholic cemeteries in the<br />
Archdiocese of Los Angeles: Oct. 26<br />
at Santa Clara Cemetery in Oxnard,<br />
and <strong>No</strong>v. 2 at Calvary Cemetery in<br />
East LA.<br />
It’s only the sixth year that “Día de<br />
los Muertos”-themed events are taking<br />
place in LA’s Catholic cemeteries.<br />
But they draw from traditions deeply<br />
which fulfillment<br />
depends<br />
on the virtues<br />
you have<br />
practiced<br />
during your<br />
physical life. The level or degree of<br />
light you will have in the afterlife<br />
would be according to the goodness<br />
and the integrity that you practiced,”<br />
explained Vega.<br />
“That concept is not different from<br />
the Catholic-Christian belief that<br />
a person will manifest their faith<br />
through good deeds and virtues that<br />
will be practiced in the image of Jesus<br />
Christ. These will represent the fullness<br />
of life once resurrected.”<br />
PILAR MARRERO<br />
<strong>October</strong> <strong>25</strong>, <strong>2019</strong> • ANGELUS • 11