Merced’s Main Street came alive Sunday night beneath paper marigolds and candlelight to celebrate the dead during the Día De Los Muertos celebration at the Multicultural Arts Center.
Catrinas in painted skulls and flowing dresses filled the street, their colors glowing during an early November dusk.
It wasn’t mourning that brought people together, but remembrance — a joyful reunion with those who previously passed on.
For this tradition, loved ones’ spirits visit the earth to indulge in all the things they loved while alive. These offerings, or ofrendas, were left at altars with photos of the departed, who, according to folklore, make their way to the land of the living the day before celebrating with people.
The celebration began at 3 p.m. inside the MAC, which has carried on this tradition for more than 20 years.
Inside the MAC’s corridors, altars were filled with layers of flowers, candles, and photographs, each one built to honor departed loved ones.
Local artists captured the holiday’s spirit in brushstrokes, photographs, clay, and other media that will adorn the gallery walls until the exhibit comes down on Nov. 16.
Throughout the afternoon, around 250 people moved through the building to enjoy the performances of dancers in bright skirts, musicians with their instruments, and poets offering verses to the departed.
As the sun slipped behind the horizon, about 75 participants stepped outside to prepare for a procession.
Leading them was campesino artist Ruben Sanchez, who first brought this celebration to Merced.
This year, illness kept him from walking the route, but he stood at the front, guiding the volunteers who lifted three towering effigies, enormous Catrinas swaying gently as they moved down Main Street.
Families, children, and lone wanderers followed, some wrapped in shawls, others in elaborate costumes that looked like they stepped out of a film.
The procession stretched three blocks to the Art Kamangar Center at The Merced Theatre, where the music faded into a moment of silence led by artist Oscar Torres.
At the end, Colton Dennis, executive director of the MAC, spoke softly to the crowd, offering a few words about the meaning of the holiday, its roots, and its enduring presence in Merced.
Then, as the candles burned low, the people made their way back to their cars to go home. Only the scent of marigolds remained, leaving the bridge between the living and the dead open, just for one more night.
