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A CELEBRATION OF THE DAY OF THE DEAD
You are invited to learn about and participate in the ancient and beautiful tradition of the Day of the Dead: Tuesday, October 28, 1-3:00 pm, in the Club Room at Creekside. This event is co-sponsored by the End of Life Concerns Club and the Entre Amigos Club.
When the Spanish conquistadors came to the American continent, they brought their Christian understanding of death as the final judgment, the peril of eternal damnation, and something to be feared. But the Nahua-speaking people of Mesoamerica accepted the inevitability of death rather than feared it. Death was not an end but a stage in a continual cycle—part of a never-ending journey.
Their ancient holiday, now manifesting in the modern Day of the Dead, celebrates the fullness of life including its embrace of death. Families come together to honor their ancestors and affirm our shared mortality. Flowers, fruit and candy decorate altars together with photographs of loved ones who have died. Death’s sadness is balanced with beauty, music and remembrances. As the old saying goes: “We have to find death before death finds us.”
In the modern celebration of the Dead we still find images of the ancient Tree of Life—on one side are pots filled with the souls of those who have died, and on the other side are pots filled with the souls of those who are living. The souls rise like birds from the pots and migrate back and forth across the tree in a continuous cycle.
“We need to find death before death finds us.”
(Richard Naegle at Oakland Day of Dead celebration, 1995)
El Dia de los Muertos is perhaps the most popular holiday in Mexico and is rapidly spreading into other cultures. I recommend a lovely modern depiction of the meaning of this celebration in the Disney animated movie, “Coco.” Also recommended is the Rossmoor Recreation Department’s workshop on Wednesday, 10/29, 1-2:45 pm in MPR 1where each participant makes their own altar/ofrenda, using a cardboard box with items they bring and that the Rec Dept provides. Sign-up information is in the Rossmoor News.
The event will be led by Richard Naegle, PhD, who has shared this material in classes at JFK University and numerous workshops with the Guild for Psychological Studies. Do join us in this lovely celebration of life and death. Please bring a picture of a departed loved one (and perhaps a memento of their favorite food or drink) to place on our “ofrenda”/altar of remembrance.
For more information, call Richard Naegle, 1-707-887-1685
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