VENTURA COUNTY WEEKEND : CENTERPIECE : Honor Thy Spirits : Day of the Dead Festivities Rely on Ritual and Humor to Remember the Deceased

Halloween is just around the corner. But not everyone is carving elaborate pumpkin sculptures or combing the shops for gory costumes. While some families are recovering from another year of trick-or-treat revelry, many members of the local Latino community will be attending two big events in east and west county on Wednesday and Nov. 2, confirming that the tradition of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is very much alive and well in Ventura County.

According to Oxnard teacher Javier Gomez, “the Day of the Dead symbolizes the fusion of two cultures--the culture of the indigenous people of Latin America and the observation of the Spanish-Christian All Saint’s Day on Nov. 1. The Day of the Dead is observed mostly in Mexico, on Nov. 2, where Aztec legend claims the dead are released from Mictlan--the land of the dead--to roam and to visit the living world.

“This is totally a different celebration than Halloween, which has long since lost its original religious connection,” said Gomez, who is also artistic director of the nonprofit Inlakech Cultural Arts Center. “El Dia de los Muertos has a strong spiritual component. The celebration demonstrates respect for life and death through remembering our beloved deceased.”

The Day of the Dead, which in this country is celebrated primarily in the southwestern part of the United States, is one of the oldest pre-Columbian indigenous celebrations of the Americas, said Gomez.

Every Nov. 1, family members light candles and make noise with rattles to let the spirits or animas know where their house is. In Mexico, people also explode firecrackers and play music. Families also convert cemeteries into picnic grounds, clean off grave sites and paint tombstones bright colors.

And they may guide the spirits by placing trails of marigolds-- cempa xochitl (the flower of the dead)--around graves or leading to houses and directly to an altar where a great display of food and other offerings (ofrendas) await the visiting souls.

“The ofrendas are for those people who have touched your life no matter how long they’ve been deceased,” Gomez said. There will also be toys, figures, photos of the loved one and calaveritas-- sugar skulls, which often bear the name of the recipient or family on the forehead. These are not meant to be eaten.

But Gomez added that food offerings--ranging from fruits, nuts, meats, breads and candies--”are placed on the altar with the belief that when the spirits visit, they eat of the essence and leave the rest for the living to devour.”

Among the Indian or indigenous population, home altars and cemetery visits are the basic elements of Day of the Dead observations, said Magdalena Teichmann, who teaches Spanish at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. “What we don’t find here are performances of the play, ‘Don Juan Tenorio,’ which is a big part of Day of the Dead tradition at universities in almost every town in Mexico during the week of celebrations.”

But the tradition of writing calaveras or humorous epitaphs about family members, friends or political figures is still a strong part of Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico, where they are printed in the newspaper or recited at office or home parties, Teichmann said.

In 1993, Teichmann, her husband Ron and fellow Spanish professor Donaldo Urioste invited students to “roast” their friends by composing some calaveras. And to set the example, Ron Teichmann composed one in which dead Latin American authors came to haunt and reproach the students for mixing up facts about them on a recent midterm exam.

For 22-year-old alumna Blanca Vera, the event helped her discover her native culture. “We left Mexico when I was 4 years old and when I came here, all we had was Halloween. So my first real encounter with Dia de los Muertos was when we went to the Teichmanns’ house,” she said.

“We talked about how writers are immortal through their literature. Although it’s something you’re supposed to be scared of, I came way with a different feeling about death.”

What began two years ago as a social gathering moved to campus last year and the Dia de los Muertos celebration attracted more than 250 people, according to Teichmann.

On Wednesday the public is again invited to don traditional muerto costumes that reflect Mexican folklore, enjoy a life-size altar display and share in the free festivities and refreshments: pan de muerto, tamales and a hot chocolate drink made with Mexican chocolate and laced with cinnamon.

As part of the festivities, students have been invited to write a poem in English or Spanish about any aspect of life at the university. Guidelines are available with a list of the many Spanish terms for the word death and colorful euphemisms for the act of dying, such as colgar los tenis --to hang up your tennis shoes or ponerse la pijama de madera --put on the wooden pajama.

Jose Solis, a 20-year-old senior majoring in Spanish and business and president of the Latin American Students Organization, wrote the prize-winning poems for two years running. But this time he will serve as one of the judges.

In a calavera to a good friend who fancied himself a Don Juan, Solis characterized his buddy as a macho tapatio (a stud from Jalisco) . A loose translation of the action of the poem would have our hero dying one day in flagrante as he always dreamed--with a beer in one hand and hanged by a brassiere during a final hangover.

Another friend was teased about her vanity, gossip and telephone habits. In that particular poem, she finally danced and talked herself to death. In the original Spanish, both poems rhyme and have a singsong, limerick quality.

The following day, the celebrations continue at the western end of the county.

The 12th annual El Dia de los Muertos Celebrations sponsored by the Inlakech Cultural Arts Center, La Colonia Coalition Against Alcohol & Drugs and other agencies, is the biggest event of its kind in the county.

The event is free and features activities such as a colorful procession of carnival floats, costumed actors, musicians and the Pasadena-based Aztec dance troupe Yankuititl. Teatro Inlakech will also stage its annual bilingual theatrical production, “A Calavera Musical Revue.”

The play changes each year to reflect the impact of certain issues on the Latino community or the personality of a recently deceased figure who is now in Mictlan, the underworld. But the tone is always irreverent and satirical. Its purpose is to poke good-natured fun at the serious aspect of death.

“We’ve updated the play since Selena has died,” Gomez said. “She’s the new arrival to the pantheon, and the dead decide to give a concert. But Selena’s in denial: How dare death take anyone so young and at the pinnacle of her career? Then she sings a duet with Ritchie Valens, the rock ‘n’ roll legend who also died young. And she starts to come to terms with death when the other muertos invite her to visit their families.”

Gomez estimated the Teatro’s dancers, actors, musicians, children and parents will number about 300 before members of the public join the processions. He encouraged participants to wear costumes and masks and to bring candles, noisemakers and photographs of a departed loved one as well as the favorite food or drink.

“These offerings, along with written messages, can be placed on a community altar after the parade,” Gomez said.

“The event is a good way of celebrating with joy instead of sorrow the beauty of our life here and our life in the hereafter.”

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DETAILS

Dia de los Muertos celebrations:

CAL LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY

* ATTRACTIONS: Life-size altar, poetry readings, traditional costumes and refreshments.

* WHERE: Student Union Building, 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks.

* WHEN: Wednesday, 6:30-9:30 p.m.

* HOW MUCH: Free.

* CALL: 493-3489 or 493-3261.

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CHURCH

* WHERE: 500 Colonia Road, Oxnard.

* WHEN: Nov. 2, 5 p.m. assembly, 5:30 p.m. pre-show entertainment and refreshments, 6 p.m. street procession, 7-9 p.m. cultural showcase, altar exhibits, bilingual theatrical performance, “A Calavera Musical Revue.”

* HOW MUCH: Free.

* CALL: 486-7063 or 486-7468.

TEATRO INLAKECH

* WHAT: Free performance of the bilingual play, “A Calavera Musical Revue.”

* WHEN & WHERE: Friday, Saturday and next Wednesday. Friday, 7:30 p.m., La Casa de la Raza, 601 Montecito Road, Santa Barbara; 965-8581. Saturday, 1:30 p.m., Anisq’Oyo Park behind the Isla Vista Medical Clinic, 970 Embarcadero del Mar, Isla Vista; 968-5158. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., West Park Recreation Center, 450 W. Harrison Ave., Ventura; 648-1895.

VENTURA COLLEGE

* WHAT: El Dia de los Muertos Halloween Bash.

* ATTRACTION: Deejay Johnny Ritmo Activo and guests will provide entertainment at a hip-hop dance open to all ages.

* WHEN: Friday, 8 p.m. to midnight.

* COST: $4 with costume, $5 without.

* HOW MUCH: 4657 Telegraph Road, Ventura; 654-6487.

MUERTO ART WORKSHOPS

* ACTIVITIES: There’s still time to make your own mask, sonaja --rattle--or altar at the last of a series of five free Muerto Art workshops open to all ages on Saturday. Artists, teachers and community leaders are especially welcome.

* WHEN & WHERE: 9 a.m. to noon, Oxnard Multi-Service Center, 1500 Camino del Sol (formerly Colonia Road), Oxnard; 1 to 3 p.m., Inlakech Cultural Arts Center, 644 South C St., Oxnard; 486-7063.

HISTORICAL PROGRAM

* OVERVIEW: Representatives from the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, La Raza Unida Party and the San Diego chapter of Union del Barrio will present a bilingual political-historical program observing the Day of the Dead and the history of the United Farm Workers Movement.

* WHERE & WHEN: Nov. 3, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.; $3 donation; Oxnard College (Room LA 6), 4000 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard; 986-5809 or 487-2661.