Territorial Prison hosts Day of the Dead festival today
Today, the Yuma Territorial Prison will honor the departed with a Day of the Dead festival.
Its cells, corridors and patio will serve as the venue for art exhibits, and and theatrical, music and dance performances in a festival which takes as its theme the two-day celebration in Mexico that pays tribute to the departed.
The festival, which precedes the actual celebration on Nov. 1 and 2, takes place from 1 to 5 p.m. at the prison museum, 220 Prison Hill Road. Hosts are the Chicano Art Collective and the Yuma Crossing National
Heritage Area.
Abraham Andrade, a member of the art collective, said the idea for the festival came out of a visit of some artist friends of his from Mexico’s Chiapas state. While in the area, they took the occasion to see the Territorial Prison.
“They commented that the prison would be ideal for an event of this type,” he said. “In September I was invited to be part of the Yuma Crossing board and that’s how this opportunity came up.”
The show will include displays of 10 Day of the Dead altars created by families in the area to honor their loved ones who have passed on.
“As always we are trying to prevent this beautiful tradition from being lost,” said Mily Verdugo, a San Luis, Ariz., artist who helped organize the festival. “The Day of the Dead is a day to celebrate our departed loves ones, who (according to tradition) return to visit the living. The offerings, the flowers, confetti paper, everything that is placed on the altars in honor of a person or in memory of a loved ones, makes it all so beautiful.”
The festival will also feature people in costume as skulls or as “catrinas” and “catrines,” traditional skeletal figures that personify death in Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico.
Artists exhibiting their work include Beto Marquez, Louise Fleurs and art students from San Luis High School.
Performing artists for the festival will include Cesar Ruano, a vocalist from the area, and Paco Mufote, a Tijuana artists who will present his monologue “El Ultimo Cigarro” (“The Last Cigar”).
Gadsden Elementary School District students will perform Mexican folkloric dances.
Admission to the festival is $8 for adults, $4 for those 7 to 13 and free for those 6 and under.