Self Help Graphics held their 40th Annual Dia de los Muertos celebration in Boyle Heights on Nov. 2.
The festival commemorates the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos ( translated to English as, Day of the Dead) in which family members and friends gather to pray for and remember loved ones that have passed away.
ÂÂÂIn celebration of this holiday, the family members and friends build private altars adorned with photos of the departed, sugar skulls, glasses of water, marigolds, and the favored foods and drinks of the deceased as an offering.
The festivities began around 5 p.m. with a procession of traditional Aztec dancers, drummers, people wearing customary skull inspired makeup, and people carrying tall paper Mache skeletons marching towards East 1st street towards where the celebration was to take place.
The Dia de los Muertos celebration included locals vendors selling everything from tamales to artwork, live music of all genres, an art exhibit, traditional altars families had built to display, and dancing.
Donations towards Self Help Graphics were voluntary. Self Help Graphics was founded in 1970 with the idea to begin an artistic revolution. Today it is a nonprofit organization visual center for Latino art that provides printmaking, exhibition and training to young and emerging artists.
For more information about this event, upcoming events and programs available, visit Self Help Graphics’ website selfhelpgraphics.com.
