In partnership with the Winslow Arts Trust, Flagstaff Nuestras Raíces and the Winslow Chamber of Commerce, Snowdrift Art Space will present Winslow’s Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Celebration. The series of free programs will take place Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 30-Nov. 1, along Historic Route 66/Second Street in downtown Winslow (Please be advised that this is not a Halloween-related event.)
Families celebrate Día de los Muertos throughout Latin America and the Southwestern United States to remember their departed ancestors and loved ones. They place ofrendas (offerings) at graves and altars, and also pray, dance, sing and share memories of the departed, who are thought to briefly visit the earth at this time each year to make sure that all is well and that they have not been forgotten.
At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Elena Díaz Björkquist will present Día de los Muertos: A Celebration of Life and Death at La Posada Hotel, 303 E. Second St. Based in Tucson, author and artist Björkquist also serves as a research affiliate at the University of Arizona. In this plática (informal talk), she will explore the holiday’s origins and traditional elements, including foods, folk crafts and altars.
From 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday and from 10 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday, Snowdrift Art Space, located at 120 W. Second St., will be open so that members of the public can set up individual altars for departed family and friends. Ofrendas on the altars may include flowers, candles, incense, sugar skulls and statues of saints, as well as pictures, personal items and favorite dishes of the departed. The process of creating an ofrenda can often help transform grief into acceptance.
On Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 1 and 2, El Gran Garage at 422 E. Second St. will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. so the public can view works by artists Wall Batterton, Laura Hipke, Dan Lutzick, Bruce Richards, Eddie Ruscha, John Scane, Scott Siedman, Rebecca Gray Smith and Sandra Yagi. Richards presents paintings from the series Millennium Calaveras, representations of the sugar confectionery or chocolate skulls used to celebrate Día de los Muertos in Mexico. Smith’s exceptional series, The Alphabet, is a suite of 28 etchings created over a 25-year period that examine premature death in the modern world.
On Saturday, the Día de los Muertos Celebration takes place from 1 to 9 p.m. at Snowdrift Art Space. Attendees are encouraged to add their own ofrendas to Snowdrift’s Community Altar by lighting candles and placing flowers, pictures and prayers for the departed. There will be Día de los Muertos crafts and event T-shirts for sale, as well as cake and refreshments for everyone.
At 2 p.m., Flagstaff Nuestras Raíces (Our Roots) will host a Sugar Skull Workshop, and attendees can also decorate skull masks throughout the day. Paper mache “sugar” skulls created for the event by Christa Knox’s Winslow Middle School students will also be on display.
From 7 to 8 p.m., the Winslow Ballet Folklorico will perform, followed immediately by a traditional Día de los Muertos procession from Snowdrift to the Winslow Visitors Center/Hubbell Trading Post along the First Street Pathway. The procession will conclude at the Hubbell with the burning of an urn filled with prayers for the departed that event attendees have added along the way.
For more information, contact Ann-Mary Lutzick at 928-289-8201or annmaryj@yahoo.com.
Support for this event has been provided by the Snowdrift Art Space, the Winslow Arts Trust, the Winslow Chamber of Commerce and Flagstaff Nuestras Raíces, which is dedicated to promoting Hispanic culture and history through events, gatherings, and the performing and visual arts. Björkquist’s presentation is made possible in part by a grant from Arizona Humanities.
