Dia de Los Muertos @ Gallo Center for the Arts

Event details: Day of the Dead more joyous than scary

By LISA MILLEGAN
lmillegan@modbee.com

Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is a time when Mexicans and other Latin Americans honor deceased friends and relatives with offerings, music and festivals.

More joyous than scary, the holiday makes light of death with depictions of partying skeletons. Families decorate graves with flowers, bring picnics to cemeteries and build memorial altars.

Mujeres Latinas of Stanislaus is celebrating the holiday Nov. 2 with a music, dance, poetry and art program at the Gallo Center for the Arts.

"There is a need for us to see death as a cycle of life," said Cristina Vallejo, Mujeres president. "It's a completion. It brings back the aspects we can pay homage to our dearly departed, our loved ones."

RiffRaff Productions is presenting the show in Spanish and English, with Riverbank Vice Mayor Virginia Madueño serving as emcee. The 45-minute program will include performances by singers Blanca Isabel, Stephanie Gutierrez and Yoly Velasquez, Mariachi Los Tapatios and ballet folklorico group Casa Cultura. In keeping with the theme of "The Golden Age of Mexico," much of the music will be popular songs from the 1930s-50s.

Nick Mendoza of Fomento Cultural Mexicano will make a large altar that will be up that day only in the Gallo Center lobby. It is an extensive project, Vallejo said. "Suffice it to say he needs a truck to carry the wood."

There also will be a display of entries from a high school Day of the Dead art contest.

In addition, students in the Hispanic Youth Leadership Council will create altars for La Perla Tapatia restaurants in Turlock and Modesto. Mendoza already has set up an informational display on Day of the Dead at the Modesto main branch of the Stanislaus County Library.

While Mujeres Latinas has organized Day of the Dead celebrations in the past, the group hasn't presented anything this elaborate.

"This year, we all got excited about the Gallo Center," Vallejo said. "We said, 'Why don't we do something on a larger scale?' We got very excited and decided to go for it."

The event was made possible by several groups and sponsors, including El Concilio, Sysco, Coca-Cola, Sierra-Delta distributing, the Ceres Flea Market, the Parent Institute for Quality Education and more.

Event website: http://www.modbee.com/scene/story/103538.html