Day of the Dead Celebration

November 2

4:00 pm – 8 pm

FREE

Come join us for food and beverages, Folkloric dancers, arts and crafts, a DJ, Mariachi and more.

Events lay out as follows:

4-8 Event – Food, activities

4-6 Mariachi

6-6:30 Ballet Folklorico

6:30-8 DJ

Four Rivers Cultural Center and Euvalcree have partnered to celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  Altars are just one component of a big Day of the Dead Celebration.  Saturday, November 2 from 4:00-8:00 PM we will celebrate with an extraordinary event at Four Rivers Cultural Center’s Japanese Garden.  Part of the celebration will include a Folkloric dance troupe Ballet Folklorico Mexico Lindo, a Mariachi band and a DJ.

There will be bounce houses and arts and crafts and face painting for the children.  We have candy skulls the kids can decorate with frosting and rousing games of Lotteria.  Bring the kids who will be able to cook s’mores on the fire pits, work on themed coloring activities, get their faces painted and participate in other fun games and craft.

Food will be available for purchase. Altar exhibit with more than 30 participants will be on view.  In addition, there will be a DJ, music, dancing, food and beverages. This is a fun event for the whole family.  Admission is FREE!  Altars  can be viewed at Four Rivers Cultural Center from 9:00 – 5:00 PM on Monday through Friday through November.  Many local citizens will be posting altars, and soliciting other families to participate in Four Rivers Cultural Center’s fifth Day of the Dead celebration.

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it is a national holiday, and all banks are closed. The celebration takes place on November 1, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased with items that represent them and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. They also leave possessions of the deceased.

Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec  festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. The holiday has spread throughout the world: In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain, there are festivals and parades, and, at the end of the day, people gather at cemeteries and pray for their dead loved ones. Similar observances occur elsewhere in Europe, and similarly themed events appear in many Asian and African cultures.

The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to its indigenous pagan cultures. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors had been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2,500–3,000 years.  In the pre-Hispanic era, skulls were commonly kept as trophies and displayed during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.