Activities Planned for ‘Day of the Dead’

The Inlakech Theater Company, an Oxnard-based arts group, and the city of Ventura will sponsor a series of activities this fall to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a traditional Latin American festival.

Tradition has it that on Dia de los Muertos, the dead are allowed to leave their land, Mictlan, and return to the homes they once knew, “to their beloved ones who are calling them and asking them to come back,” said Javier Gomez, the Inlakech artistic director.

“It’s a holiday where you find communion with the people who have meant something to you,” he said.

“The essence of the celebration is not how people died, but how they lived.”

Beginning Sept. 17, on each Saturday for five weeks in a row, area residents can attend free workshops at the West Harrison Community Center in Ventura from 9 a.m. to noon.

At the three-hour workshops, participants will learn about the history of Muertos celebration and will create “Muertos masks” out of plaster and paint them.

The masks are made by pressing wet plaster to a face, then painting the dried product. The masks may be carried or worn in the procession on Nov. 1, the Dia de los Muertos.

The festivities will begin at 3 p.m. at the community center. From 3 to 5 p.m., local artists will paint residents’ faces with skeletal designs.

At 5 p.m., the Inlakech Ballet Folklorico will perform, and at 5:45 p.m., the Aztec dance troupe will do a traditional dance.

The procession commences at 6 p.m., winding through west Ventura streets to end at the Livery at 34 N. Palm Street, where participants can eat traditional Mexican foods, view Muertos masks made by local schoolchildren and watch plays and dance performances.

The festival’s theme this year is “Happy Muerte to You,” Gomez said, promising a special sighting of Elvis at the Nov. 1 procession.