Highways, a non-profit organization located in the 18th Street Arts Center that works to promote contemporary artists socially involved with their communities, is holding a four-day-long Dia de los Muertos celebration that began Wednesday with the decoration of an altar.
Members of the community were invited to place their offerings to the dead on the altar Wednesday afternoon. The altar will be open to the public tonight from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
The organization will hold a traditional ceremony welcoming and honoring deceased ancestors on Friday and Saturday.
“We’re reaching out and want to make sure (Day of the Dead) doesn’t get overlooked,” said Leo Garcia, the director of Highways.
The event is being organized by Paulina Sahagun, a Santa Monica native, and financially supported in part by City Hall’s Cultural Affairs Division.
Because Halloween and Dia de los Muertos are so close to one another, the two holidays are beginning to take on a synonymous identity, Sahagun said. The problem is that most people don’t even understand the origins of Halloween, she said.
“The project is intended to make (Day of the Dead) clearer,” she said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 1, 2007. Read the original PDF.