Episode 18.  DAY of the DEAD 
REBROADCAST 11/01/2025 

     This time of year, most of us celebrate Halloween.

Kids go trick or treating, while we adults hand out candy when they come calling…. or relive our childhood and dress up` in costumes, go to parties, and decorate our homes with witches, black cats, ghouls, and skeletons.

 

But most of us know little about the roots of Halloween, and even less about the other celebrations that come at this time of year.

 

Our own Halloween dates back to ancient pagan rites of Samhain – and the Christian All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

 

One event that has really grabbed our attention is the Mexican Day of the Dead,  Dia de los Muertos.   As the Latin-American population in the U.S. has steadily grown over the last several decades, this celebration has taken off.

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I’s hard to miss: You may have seen it from a distance, those amazing painted skeleton faces, sugar skulls, Mariachi  bands and  parades pouring into cemeteries festooned with brilliant yellow Marigolds…elaborate altars  lit by candlelight,  and families feasting  over the graves of their dear departed.

 

Like us – you probably have no idea what a rich and really fascinating history this colorful celebration has.  If you watched the Disney movie Coco, you have some idea.    It actually dates back thousands of years to ancient Aztec rites - -some pretty scary – but has evolved into a profoundly spiritual  moment when families celebrate their lost loved ones.

 

It's no coincidence that Samhain, All Souls Day and Dia de los Muertos happen around the same time -- this moment when we pass into the dark time -- when many believe the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest … and the dead can come home  to visit.

 

We all tend to look at that differently: some of us think of ghosts as scary -- even evil -- spirits.  But these days, most Americans just treat this as a chance to have fun with that theme.

 

But those who place their faith in Samhain and Dia de los Muertos honor those dear friends and family who have left us. Instead of mourning the dead and fearing their spirits, their celebrations spiritually join the dead and the living together again for one day and one night…when that mystical veil lifts and their spirits mingle among us.

 

For the past few years, we’ve been learning about all this from a fascinating woman – Adela Marquez -- one of the organizers of the hugely popular Dia de los Muertos celebration at the famous Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where hundreds of celebrities are interred alongside thousands of people from the area --many of them Hispanic.

 

In past years, the event has drawn as many as 40,000 people -- most showing off wildly colorful costumes reflecting that year's theme. 

 

2020 was also a record year  for Hollywood Forever, but tragically  for another reason.  They could barely keep up burying the number of dead who had succumbed to COVID-19.

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Hollywood Forever's resident expert and our good friend, Adela Marquez, eloquently tells the moving story, rich with tragic romance, and eerily applicable to where we find ourselves as a nation, and a world, as we move from a time of recovery into a time of healing.

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This is an especially moving episode – it will educate you, touch you,  entertain you, and help us all understand the rich traditions of our Hispanic friends.

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There is another reason to attend this year if you live in Los Angeles  -- or if there is a "Dia de los Muertos" event where you live.  

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That is to stand in solidarity with the celebrants against the brutal tactics of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), particularly its Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division, and The U.S. Border Patrol, as well as our President who has sent the National Guard and U.S. military into cities where they are not needed. 

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Tragically, in the face of all this illegal and anti-American brutality, we can't help but feel the hypocrisy of today's ugly anti-immigrant crusade with those immortal words of Emma Lazarus at the Statue of Liberty:

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 “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

ASAAS

 

 As long as this crusade against immigrants goes on, those hallowed words will haunt us.  But el Dia de los Muertos takes us into a different world -- and we hope you will join us  as we venture into a hundred-year- old mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and meet with  the marvelous, mystical Adela Marquez ….

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Listen and Learn

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