Da De Los Muertos at Downtown L.A. s Grand Park
03/11/2016
In a time when D a de los Muertos is being misrepresented due to its commercialization as Mexican Halloween, the Noche de Ofrenda event reminded those who attended of the true meaning of D a de los Muertos. On this night, we were called to pay homage to our loved ones by remembering their lives and stories so that their memories live on for future generations. For many U.S. born and diasporic Latinxs, this indigenous ceremony of remembering offers cultural nourishment, healing, and space to express silenced histories of violence, such as honoring those who have died crossing the U.S./Mexico border.
While this ritual is rooted in indigenous Meso-American practices, Catholic customs were incorporated during Spanish colonization as the tradition was forced to adapt. In contemporary Mexico, the celebration takes place on November 1st and 2nd in public spaces, cemeteries, and homes, that are often open to the community. Over the past four decades, these practices and beliefs in collectively communing with the dead have proliferated in the U.S. particularly, in cities that are home to large Latinx populations. This is because Chicanx and Latinx artists, teachers, cultural workers, and elders have worked diligently to reclaim such ancestral knowledge and preserve the public ritual of celebrating D a de los Muertos. In the case of East L.A., the idea to collectively and publicly practice D a de los Muertos was initiated by Sister Karen of SHG and two Mexican artists, a history documented by art historian Sybil Venegas.
In the true collective spirit of D a de los Muertos, the free and public night of remembering, Noche de Ofrenda at Grand Park included over 30 ofrendas (altars). Assembled by various L.A. based artists, community groups, and collectives, such as Mujeres de Maiz, South Central Farmers, Las Fotos Project, and Youth Justice L.A., many of the altars made visible social issues and victims of injustices. The night included performances by local band Cuicani, female mariachi band La Victoria and, of course, Ofelia Esparza speaking on the importance of honoring our dead.
The community altar organized by Master Altar-Maker Ofelia Esparza. Attendees were encouraged to bring photos and momentos to add to this altar. || Photos: Marisol Medina-Cadena
An altar prepared by Ni Santas collective dedicated to all those who were lost to police brutality. || Photos: Marisol Medina-Cadena.
An ofrenda made by the South Central Farmers' CSA Program. || Photos: Marisol Medina-Cadena
An altar made by East Los Angeles Women's Center. || Photos: Marisol Medina-Cadena
Taking pictures with the dead. Guests strike a pose behind the window frame altar made by Las Fotos Project. || Photos: Marisol Medina-Cadena
An altar by Celina Jacques. || Photos: Marisol Medina-Cadena
Altar made by Martha Carrillo. || Photos: Marisol Medina-Cadena
An altar made by Mujeres de Maiz member and Professor, Michelle Lopez, with her Cal State LA students to honor migrants who died while crossing the U.S./Mexico border. || Photos: Marisol Medina-Cadena
The entire walkway at Grand Park is lined with altars commemorating the dead. || Photos: Marisol Medina-Cadena
The altars will be on display till Sunday, November 6th along with large-scale altars and installations at Grand Park.
Comment
LINK: | https://www.kcet.org/history-society/dia-de-los-muertos-at-downtown-la... |
See more stories from kcet |
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
03/05/2024
Fubo, Dish, DirecTV & Others Urge Congress to Probe New Sports Streaming JV
Eight co-signers representing streaming services, pay TV operators and public interest groups have sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging their Committee...
03/05/2024
Brightcove Integrates AWS-Powered Generative AI Solution
BOSTON Brightcove has announced that it has implemented Amazon Q Business, a new generative AI assistant on Amazon Web Services (AWS)....
03/05/2024
CBS Claims 16th Straight Prime Time Viewing Title
NEW YORK CBS has declared that it will finish the 2023-24 season as Americas Most-Watched Network in primetime for the 16th consecutive season....
03/05/2024
Survey: U.S. Business and Consumers Plan to Increase Tech Spending
A new survey indicates that U.S. businesses and consumers had an overall positive attitude towards their technology spending plans in the first quarter of 2024,...
03/05/2024
Sony, Apollo Make $26B Bid for Paramount
Sony and Apollo Global Management have sent an offer letter to Paramount Global's board of directors making an $26 billion all cash offer for Paramount Glob...
03/05/2024
EMG / Gravity Media Grow Executive Team
EMG / Gravity Media has appointed Charlie Cubbon chief operating officer (COO) and Jamie Hindhaugh regional CEO for the U.K., U.S., Australia and the Middle Eas...
03/05/2024
WRAL-TV Brain Game Producer Randy Mews Wraps Season Taping Before Retirement
Final 2024 Season Games to Air Saturdays on WRAL at 10:30am in May, Championship on June 1 Taping for the final episodes of the 2024 season of WRAL-TV's Br...
03/05/2024
Estrella MediaCo Launches FAST Channels With Curiosity (NewFronts)
Estrella MediaCo said it is expanding its connected TV portfolio by launching three new channels with Curiosity that will first appear on Samsung TV Plus....
03/05/2024
SAG-AFTRA Will Use Nielsen Streaming Data To Enforce New Contract Terms
Nielsen said that actors' union SAG-AFTRA has selected Nielsen as its third-party provider of streaming content measurement....
03/05/2024
Cineverse Moves AI Content Search Tool cineSearch Into Public Beta
Cineverse said it has released a public beta version of cineSearch, its artificial intelligence-based system designed to help users find content to watch....
03/05/2024
Court TV To Debut Season 2 Of Accomplice To Murder May 5
Court TV said that its series Accomplice to Murder with Vinnie Politan is returning for a second season beginning May 5....
03/05/2024
Paramount Advertising Taps Mastercard, EDO for Attribution
Paramount Advertising said it is working with Mastercard and research and analytics company EDO to measure the impact of advertising campaigns and improve their...
03/05/2024
The Business of TV News: How To Grow Local Programming Without Burning Out Staffers, Viewers
WASHINGTON The panel The Growth of Local Programming happened at The Busines...
03/05/2024
Katz Media Group Names Craig Broitman President
Katz Media Group said that Craig Broitman will become president of the company, succeeding Leo MacCourtney, who announced that he is retiring effective July 1....
03/05/2024
MeTV Toons To Debut This Summer
MeTV Toons, the latest digital broadcast network from Weigel Broadcasting, will debut June 25, Weigel vice chairman Neal Sabin said at a virtual press conferenc...
03/05/2024
May 02, 2024
TIME100 Health list features Scripps Research Executive Vice President Eric Topol New list honors 100 individuals who most influenced global health in 2024. M...
02/05/2024
Reality Slips Away in the Eerie I Saw the TV Glow
PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 18: Jane Schoenbrun introduces the 2024 Sundance Film Festival I Saw the TV Glow premiere at the Library Center Theatre in Park City...
02/05/2024
Meet the 10 Hampton University Students Receiving Spotify NextGen's Scholarship
Spotify is committed to amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups, and th...
02/05/2024
Advertisers and Creators Come Together at Our First-Ever Spotify Sparks in London
With more than 600 million users around the world tuned in to Spotify, there'...
02/05/2024
Gear up for the 2024 Cycling Grand Tours on Australia's Home of Cycling, SBS
Gear up for the 2024 Cycling Grand Tours on Australia's Home of Cycling, SBS Media releases All of the rivalry begins with the Giro d'Italia this we...
02/05/2024
New SBS documentary dives into one of Australia's greatest underdog stories of all time!
New SBS documentary dives into one of Australia's greatest underdog stories ...
02/05/2024
Alone Australia cements its place as one of Australia's biggest hits of 2024
Alone Australia cements its place as one of Australia's biggest hits of 2024 2 May, 2024 Media releases Alone Australia has cemented its place as one o...
02/05/2024
The Making of All of Us Strangers
I always like to base my lighting choices in reality, says cinematographer Jamie D. Ramsay, SASC. For his recent collaboration with writer-director Andrew Haig...
02/05/2024
Hiltron Introduces Field-Upgradable Motorisation Kit for CPI 2385 Satcom Antenna
Accompanying image shows Hiltron's new HMAM-based field-upgradable motorisation kit for the CPI 2385 satellite communications antenna. Backnang, Germany,...
02/05/2024
Millennium Space Systems Selects L3Harris to Build Space Development Agency Electro-Optical Infrared Payloads
MELBOURNE, Fla., May 2, 2024 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) has received a c...
02/05/2024
Samba TV Launches New Generative AI Ad Solution
NEW YORK Samba TV is debuting new capabilities for Samba AI, the company's suite of generative AI technologies. Samba AI's new capabilities provide a re...
02/05/2024
Television Academy Foundation Names Anne Vasquez Executive Director
LOS ANGELES The Television Academy Foundation has announced the appointment of Anne Vasquez as its executive director effective May 13....
02/05/2024
SAG-AFTRA to License Nielsen Streaming Data
NEW YORK SAG-AFTRA has inked a deal with Nielsen to become its third-party provider of streaming content measurement and has announced that it will use the Niel...
02/05/2024
Cineverse Unveils Public Beta of AI-Powered cineSearch
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has debuted cineSearch, its previously announced new content search and discovery service in public Beta....
02/05/2024
Can AI find a way to reduce the broadcast industry's energy consumption?
OpenDrives Trevor Morgan asks if AI has the answer to making data centres for the media and entertainment industry more sustainable By Contributor Published:...
02/05/2024
Bill Baggelaar Asks the Questions: An Unfiltered Look at Media Supply Chain Transformation
Bill Baggelaar Asks the Questions: An Unfiltered Look at Media Supply Chain Tran...
02/05/2024
Two Boston Conservatory at Berklee Alums Nominated for Tony Awards
Two Boston Conservatory at Berklee Alums Nominated for Tony Awards An additional eight alums and two current students performed in nominated productions. By...
02/05/2024
Viewers Call Finding New TV Content Frustrating' in Comcast Advertising Report
A majority of viewers 51% said the difficulty in finding new content on TV c...
02/05/2024
Programming Legend Art Moore Retiring After 53 Years With ABC Stations
Art Moore, who headed production of long-running syndicated series, including Live, said he plans to retire in September as VP of programming for WABC New York....
02/05/2024
Nexstar Will Move The CW Affiliation to WGN Chicago
Nexstar Media Group, which owns The CW, said the network's affiliation will be moving to Nexstar-owned WGN Chicago....
02/05/2024
Future Today Puts First Original Shows on Fawesome Channel (NewFronts)
Future Today said that it plans to launch the first original shows on its Fawesome streaming channel....
02/05/2024
Behind the Music' Returns on Paramount Plus
Behind the Music is back on Paramount Plus with new episodes May 1. Those profiled in the season two episodes are Bell Biv DeVoe, Trace Adkins and Wolfgang Van ...
02/05/2024
All American: Homecoming' Returns on The CW July 8
All American: Homecoming starts season three on The CW Monday, July 8, while season two of 61st Street kicks off Monday, July 22....
02/05/2024
Jerry Seinfeld's Pop-Tart Movie Starts on Netflix May 3
Unfrosted, a movie about the race to create a game-changing breakfast pastry, such as, say, the Pop-Tart, debuts on Netflix May 3. Jerry Seinfeld directs, his f...
02/05/2024
Former BT Sport COO Jamie Hindhaugh joins EMG / Gravity Media
Charlie Cubbon has also been appointed chief operating officer By Matthew Corrigan Published: May 2, 2024 Charlie Cubbon has also been appointed chief ope...
02/05/2024
Durable Goods Signs Lionel Coleman
Durable Goods Signs Lionel Coleman Brie Clayton May 2, 2024 0 Comments Durable Goods has signed multi-hyphenate director Lionel Coleman for commercial...
02/05/2024
Hitsujibungaku's Music Video GO!!! Shot by Kyotaro Hayashi with Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K
Hitsujibungaku's Music Video GO!!! Shot by Kyotaro Hayashi with Blackmagic C...
02/05/2024
Diamond Sports RSNs Go Dark On Comcast Systems
Bally Sports Regional Networks were taken off Comcast's systems on April 30 when their existing distribution agreement expired and Diamond Sports Group was ...
02/05/2024
Diamond Sports Group, DirecTV Renew Distribution Deal
SOUTHPORT, Conn. and EL SEGUNDO, Calif. Diamond Sports Group ( Diamond or the Company ) and DirecTV have announced that they have reached a multi-year renewal...
02/05/2024
Three Nexstar Stations to Become CW Affiliates
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group has announced that its owned and operated television stations in Chicago, Illinois (DMA #3), Norfolk, Virginia (DMA #43), and ...
02/05/2024
FCC, FTC Ink Agreement to Cooperate on Net Neutrality Enforcement
WASHINGTON, D.C. The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to coordinate consumer protection ...
02/05/2024
Haivision Celebrates 20th Anniversary
MONTREAL Haivision Systems Inc. is marking its 20th anniversary by detailing some of the accomplishments and developments that have helped the company become a ...
02/05/2024
Agora Introduces Adaptive Video Optimization Technology
SANTA CLARA, Calif. Agora today unveiled its Adaptive Video Optimization (AVO) technology that uses machine learning to adjust parameters dynamically at every s...