Guide: Pasadena Embraces 'Dia de Los Muertos' Weekend

Image from 2016 Dia De Los Muertos Events

Pasadena will be abuzz with lively events on the weekend that celebrates the Day of the Dead – Dia de Los Muertos – with exciting events for both young and old, self-guided tours, live music, free lectures and workshops in Old Pasadena, arts and crafts and dance performances.

Dia de Los Muertos was originally a Mexican holiday when families and friends gather to remember loved ones who have died. Scholars trace the origin of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl, literally “Lady of the Dead,” Queen of Mictlan, the underworld.

Image from 2016 Dia De Los Muertos Events

The remembrance holiday is now acknowledged in many cultures around the world, especially since it coincides with the western Christian Allhallowtide, All Saints’ Day and All Souls Day traditions.

In Pasadena, the event has been gaining popularity since Old Pasadena began celebrating Dia de Los Muertos three years ago as a community event.

This year, Old Pasadena is holding an extended celebration that includes self-guided tours of expansive altars created by dozens of businesses in the neighborhood, along with other Day of the Dead staples such as calavera (skull) face-painting, a salsa dance party, and merchant promotions.

Image from 2016 Dia De Los Muertos Events

The tours start on Friday, October 27, during which visitors can take a tour of both traditional and contemporary interpretations of altars created to honor and celebrate the spirits of the departed. A panel of judges will visit each altar and award monetary prizes in six categories.

The Tour of Altars includes Wings of the Dead, the 2017 Community Altar created by Los Angeles artist Sonia Romero. Dedicated to our ancestors and honoring the natural cycle of life, the altar highlights the migration of monarch butterflies, said to be the souls of the dead returning home to Michoacán, Mexico, in early November. Visitors can honor a loved one by leaving a written message on a paper butterfly.

The Wings of the Dead Community Altar will be at the Indiana Colony Marketplace at 59 E. Colorado Blvd.

Image from 2016 Dia De Los Muertos Events

At 109 E. Union Street, Big Bang Theory Way, La Junta presents a salsa dance exhibition and instruction to get everyone warmed up for open dancing with DJs, live percussion, and horn, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The venue will also offer free calavera face painting from 6 to 8 p.m.

On Saturday, October 28, and Sunday, October 29, Old Pasadena features Music with Marimba Tropical and free calavera face painting, around 1 to 4 p.m. at Mercantile Place at Raymond Avenue.

At the POP Champagne Bar at 33 E. Union Street, UCLA lecturer and chocolate guru Lee Scott Theisen draws connections between the origins of chocolate and Day of the Dead traditions beginning 3,000 years ago, in “Chocolate: Gift of Mesoamerica,” 1 to 2 p.m. Gourmet chocolate tastings are included.

Image from 2016 Dia De Los Muertos Events

Also at the POP Champagne Bar, from 3 to 4 p.m., Pasadena historian Roberta H. Martinez shares the story of centenarian Doña Eulalia Pérez de Guillen Mariné and her impact at the Mission San Gabriel and the early days of Pasadena and surrounding areas in “La Madrina de Pasadena: The Remarkable History of Doña Eulalia.” A mole tasting is included.

Paper Source at 163 W. Colorado Blvd. will be sponsoring an arts and crafts event, Make and Take Sugar Skull Craft, from 1 to 4 p.m. For $8, visitors, including children, can create a sugar skull card or mask using crafty materials while supplies last.

The City of Pasadena also announced the holding of several free family events, starting with the Fall Festival on Saturday, and the first of two Dia de Los Muertos events. A second Dia de Los Muertos event will be held on Friday, November 3.

On Saturday morning, the Dia de los Muertos Monarch Butterfly Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Washington Park, at Washington Boulevard and El Molino Avenue. City officials, Friends of Washington Park and local students will team up with U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists to celebrate the monarch butterfly and its cultural and spiritual significance in Dia de los Muertos.

Food, live music, arts and craft activities about monarch biology, native pollinators and plants, and educational stations about the monarch butterfly life cycle and migration will be available. Children can create an “ancestor’s tree” by writing the names of loved ones on the wings of paper butterflies and can help plant seed and landscaping to Washington Park’s native habitat designed as friendly to monarch butterflies.

Participants can take home free seeds to grow their own monarch butterfly habitat.

The annual Fall Festival takes place at 3 to 7 p.m. at Victory Park, at 2575 Paloma Street. The event is open to the entire family. The event will feature performances by local community groups, fun dance music, a tiny tot zone, carnival games, face painting, pony rides and a petting zoo featuring a mini-cow. Costume contests and procession will be held so dress to impress. No registration is required and all costume contests are free to enter. Various categories will be available. The costume contest begins at 4:30 p.m.

On Friday, November 3, more traditional Dia de los Muetros festivities will be held at Villa-Parke Community Center, 363 E. Villa Street, from 3 to 5 p.m. Visitors can view “ofrendas,” altars honoring the life of the departed, enjoy dance performances, and arts and crafts.

To keep track of the Old Pasadena Dia de Los Muertos weekend, visit 

Source: pasadenanow