![]() ![]() The Day of the Dead celebration in East L.A. Bueno and Ibanez recalled Día de Los Muertos in their town in Mexico and how it was rooted in tradition, ceremony, ancestors, altars/ofrendas, and art that engaged the entire community. ![]() The artists wanted to create a project that brought unity, healing, and empowerment to the Chicano community by reclaiming its cultural self-identity and connecting the strong, positive values and cultural assets in place for generations. The Chicano community had just experienced a tragic, heavy-handed response from the East Los Angeles sheriffs at a peaceful demonstration against the Vietnam War and long-standing grievances of inequalities in education and representation. It was a time of great social upheaval throughout the nation. It was introduced to the East Los Angeles Community in 1973 by a progressive Catholic nun, Sister Karen Bocalerro, and two Mexican artists, Carlos Bueno and Antonio Ibanez, at Self Help Graphics & Art, a community-based art center in East Los Angeles. It was known only as the holy days, November 1 (All Saints’ Day) and November 2 (All Souls’ Day) in the Catholic Church calendar, certainly not as days of festive color and celebration. In 1973 Day of the Dead was never observed in the United States like in Mexico and was unheard of among many in my U.S.-born, California-based Chicano community. But the third, the most horrible, most dreaded death of all, IS TO BE FORGOTTEN.” Our second death is the day we are buried, never to be seen on the face of the Earth again. The first death is the day that we give up our last breath, the day that we die. I always carry my mother’s words with me, and I share them with everyone I teach about Día de Los Muertos. The altar Mictlan Sur honors Sister Karen Bocalerro (20’x12’x14’), 2000, by Ofelia Esparza, Self Help Graphics & Art, East Los Angeles, CA.
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