Día de los Muertos: Honoring Spirits and Celebrating the Afterlife
On Nov. 2, 2022, the Santa Monica Pier held their second annual Día de los Muertos celebration. The night consisted of blessings from indigenous tribes, traditional Folklorico dances, live Mariachi performances and community altars to commemorate deceased family members and friends.
Día de los Muertos began its second day of celebration on the Santa Monica Pier as the sun set over the ocean coastline on Nov. 2, with Natives from the Tigua tribe joining Aztec members of the Kalpoli Tonelhuayo circle in ceremonies and blessings.
As Tigua Native prayer men Daniel Lopez and his son Rene Lopez from El Paso, Texas, burned sacred plant material and gave blessings to loved ones who have died, the Kalpoli Tonelhuayo circle joined the ceremony with Aztec dances.
Tzinacantli from the Kalpoli Tonelhuayo circle burned a tree resin called copal, alongside members from the Tigua community who burned sage for this ceremony.
“I am not from Los Angeles. I am a native to the continent, but I must respect and recognize that this is Chumash and Tongva lands,” they said. “We native people always recognize the people connected to the lands we are gathered to have ceremony in.”
When speaking upon the importance of the Día de los Muertos celebration Tzinacantli said, “Those who have passed on, that's why we celebrate the day, we have to remember them. Speak their names, tell their stories, the good and the bad. Our ancestors, our elders who have passed on. Some of us have parents or friends, and our pets. This is a time to celebrate them.”
Native people placed the plant materials into skull and animal-shaped bowls, and while some burned these materials, others blew into conch shells.
“We sound the sea conches as well, they symbolize wind. Think of wind as air or oxygen, that which the dead do not breathe anymore. The conches are used to gather the people to ceremony, and also to sound to the four directions: North, South, East, West,” Tzinacantli said.
After the ceremony of blessings, Native leaders continued their procession along the pier to the Santa Monica Pier Carousel. The Kalpoli Tonelhuayo circle performed Aztec dances in front of the ofrenda altars surrounding the carousel.
Following the ceremonies, the Santa Moncia Ballet Folklorico performed a series of dances outside of the building with Mariachi Tenamaxtlan de Jalisco. The Mariachi band then made their way around the carousel, serenading the crowd of people with a variety of songs such as Cielo Rojo, a huapango written by singer-songwriter Juan Záizar.
In partnership with the City of Santa Monica and the Pico Youth Center, the Santa Monica Pier Corporation collaborated with local artists Daniel Alonzo and Slyvia Sanchez and set up public art installations around the carousel.
The art installation “Letters of Life” consisted of altars of favorite pier memories, photographs and anecdotes of deceased friends and family members from the Santa Monica community. To celebrate the merry-go-round’s 100-year anniversary, the artists decorated the carousel for the first time and surrounded it with paper marigolds and colorful strips of Mexican tissue paper folk art called papel picados.
“I’m very proud and honored to be able to install these altars and honor our loved ones and ancestors. It’s just such a great honor to do it in our hometown,” Sanchez said. “This wasn’t only solely done by me and Daniel Alonzo, it was a labor of love and it takes a lot of work and a lot of effort.”
Dominique Medina took two hours for her make up and spent the last week creating her headband to come as a sugar skull, Calavera for the Santa Monica Pier Día de los Muertos celebration on Wednesday, Nov. 2. Santa Monica, Calif (Ee Lin Tsen | The Corsair)
Sanchez added that family members helped to bring this project alive. She said that these altars invited passed ones to join them in the land of the living and to celebrate this night.
“It's a day to remember and honor our loved ones who have passed on to the spirit world,” she said. “It's not a sorrowful night, it’s a celebration of life.” Cousins Patricia Casillas and Blanca Casillas Nolan were at the Casillas family altar searching for themselves in an old family photograph of a family picnic taken on Sept. 7, 1980. Nolan, who is 67, was 22 at the time, and one of the 500 Casillas family members who showed up for the picnic at Marine Park.
Standing by their family altar, the cousins listened to Mariachi Tenamaxtlan de Jalisco’s live strings and trumpets, and teared up while reminiscing on family members.
“I’m very emotional, my grandfather and my parents loved this music every time we went to parties together,” Casillas said.
“I recently lost my husband and I had mariachis at my wedding, so it’s all very emotional,” Nolan said.
