Dia de los Muertos San Francisco November 2, 2005
San Francisco, California
Day of the Dead San Francisco is a community event that has been happening for the last 26 years. There are many organizations and people that contribute to the richness of this event, The Mission really comes together in a beautiful way. Please connect to our community links page to see other participating organizations!
Procession lead by Rescue Culture Collective will be on Wednesday, November 2, 2005 at 7:00 PM at 24th & Bryant, in the Mission District of San Francisco.
Procession will end in Garfield Park at the Festival of Altars 8:30 PM at 25th & Harrison.
Please bring flowers, candles, and memoirs of your loved ones for our community altar. This event is FREE and open to the public, wheel chair accessible.
http://www.dayofthedeadsf.org/
Added by claudinerlco on October 25, 2005
Comments
vacapinta
Just an observation more than anything else...
During this event last year, I couldnt help noticing something odd - many if not most of the participants in the Day of the Dead festivities were Americans. This is true even though this event is held in a predominantly Latino neighborhood - San Francisco's Mission district. Many of the Mexicans in the area were just going about their business during the procession - maybe munching on tacos on 24th street and watching american kids with painted faces and Nightmare-before-Christmas inspired costumes walk by.
There's a couple reasons for this. One is that Day of the Dead is a regional festival in Mexico - celebrated mostly in the Central stretch of Mexico - approximately in a triangle formed by Guadalajara, Oaxaca and Mexico city. That is, its mainly celebrated by descendants of the Aztec, Tarascan tribes and many of their controlled regions.
Anyways, one thing I've noticed is that SF's mission district, while densely populated by Mexicans not from this stretch - either Northern Mexicans or Mexicans from the Yucatan. Thus, to them, this is a holiday as foreign as it is to most other people.
But also, Day of the Dead is a dying tradition in Mexico. My mother (who grew up in the state of Michoacan) remembers all of this but has not practiced it recently - the younger generation has not taken this up.
So, curiously, Day of the Dead stands a real chance of vanishing in Mexico (it is still practiced but has become less than the commonplace it once was) and yet it is growing in popularity in the US, undoubtedly fueled by people's love for its aesthetics of Death.
Soon, this hybridized American form may be its only manifestation.