Third year celebrating Dia de los Muertos in Questa!

Event Details:
Time: Thursday November 2, 3 – 7 pm (Drop in or stay for the whole event).
Cost: Free. Donations welcome.
Location: OCHO Art + Event Space, #8 Hwy. 38, Questa, NM (parking across the street)
More Info: www.LeapSite.org, Gaea McGahee, gaea.mcgahee@gmail.com, (575­) 224­-2102

Dia de los Muertos in Questa Schedule, 3-7 pm:
3 – 4:30 pm Letters to the Dead with author, Annie Mattingley
4 – 5:30 pm Activities and Community Altar Adorning
5:30 pm Feasting
6:30-7 pm Music by Questa Mariachi

All are welcome to the third annual Dia de los Muertos celebration hosted in Questa at OCHO Art + Event Space. This year’s celebration offers art and festival activities, and features the “Dead Letter Office” with author Annie Mattingley, and riveting tunes with Questa Mariachi, Questa’s Junior and Senior High School students. The event takes place from 3-7 pm at OCHO Art + Event Space, #8, Hwy. 38 in the village center.

Author Annie Mattingley will lead participants in writing letters to the dead in “The Dead Letter Office.” She recently published The After-Death Chronicles: True Stories of Comfort, Guidance, and Wisdom from Beyond the Veil  (Hampton Roads Publishing 2017).

At the event, participants can make sugar skulls, paper marigolds, and other (traditional Dia)  art. “And if you choose, you can be made into a sugar skull (a calavera) by skillful facepainters,” say organizers.

Please bring photos of loved ones or objects to add to a community altar. Participants may bring a small altar to display, or other Day of the Dead art, but items need to be no larger than a shoebox. If inspired, bring a favorite dish to share, perhaps a favorite of someone to remember and celebrate at this event. Event organizers will contribute posole, prune pies, hot chocolate, pan de muerto, and more. There will be much to feast upon at 5:30 and then enjoy mariachi music to close this ritual of remembering.

Dia de los Muertos is now celebrated all over the world, although it’s  origins combine Spanish, Aztec, and even earlier traditions. The celebration in Questa is inspired by this now world-wide memory tradition in the spirit of bringing bright colors, music, art, and food with strong flavors in to lift the gloom.

Coordinated by Gaea McGahee, the collaborative event is the collective effort of LEAP (LeapSite.org) and OCHO (OchoZone.org) and many from Questa and surrounding communities.

“Dia de los Muertos encourages us to revive memories and celebrate our beloveds, as well as acknowledge our own sorrow over their absence. Bereavement and missing are part of our human experience, just as death is, but this ritual gives us a space to honor loved ones with festivity and joy. We’re all on the same path, but some have made it to the other side of ‘the veil,’  whatever that veil means (to you),” says McGahee.

The event is made possible by funding from Chevron Questa Mine Community Fund, and Questa Economic Development Fund, as well as individual donations and many in-kind contributions and volunteers. Thank you!