Multiplicity of music

Ana Avila bagged a small sugar molded skull giving the couple purchasing it an unexpected, yet welcome lesson on the proper practices during Dia de los Muertos as she rang them up.

Fuchsia is the color of happiness and purple the color of mourning, not orange and black, Avila said. It is commonly confused with Halloween since they fall so close together. The “day of the dead” falling every year on Nov. 1 is a celebration of the entrance into a new state of existence, not the belief that death is the end.

Families erect colorful alters clad with candy skeletons, and other items for their dead ancestors.

“Remember to place a glass of water with three golden coins, a cup of salt, a small dog, a stick to lead the dog, a mirror and a photo of the deceased at your alter,” she added. “The souls are wandering around and have to see their picture to know that the alter is for them. Then, put whatever items were important to them with it.”

The owner of Hecho en Mexico, a Placentia-based store, Avila was just one of many booths peddling items typically found in a day trip across the border, touting handcrafted leather key chains, churros, sugar skulls, and other trinkets of heritage at the Dia de la Raza Latino cultural festival Sunday on the campus of Orange Coast College.

In it’s second year, the event incorporated the music, food, dance and history of the people of Latin America.

Organized by OCC dance professor Jose Costas, the event this year focused a great deal on the culture of Mexico, bringing Azteca dancers, mariachis and salsa to the stage.

One of the school’s hopes in putting on the event is to get the Costa Mesa’s Latino population within Costa Mesa on the campus, Costas said.

Roughly “18% of our students are Latino,” Costas said.

Across from Avila’s stand, the first all-female mariachi band played to a growing crowd. Comedian Paul Rodriguez gave a performance at 5 p.m. and the dance floor was opened up to the multitudes gathered behind the school’s arts center.

Avila said she has noticed a dying-off of “day-of-the-dead” celebrations, especially in Mexico, where the costumes and candy searches of Halloween the day before have eclipsed the day of honoring ancestors.

“Only the last couple of years have the schools started to bring back the teaching of the day as a national holiday,” Avila said.

Traditions die off when they can’t change with the times, Avila said. The tiny clay figurines used as decorations during Dia de Los Muertos celebrations were modern mock-ups of skeletons working on computers, sitting in dentist chairs, and some bearing the likenesses of characters such as famed artist Frida Kahlo.

The Orange County Mexican American Historical Society, one of the booths revisiting the event this year, offered a picturesque view of the rich cultural past of the area in the time of orange groves and rancheros. Much of the collection comes from family photo collections, high school class pictures and weddings from the turn of the 20th century.

KELLY STRODL may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at kelly.strodl@latimes.com.