Tucson Citizen.com
Carolyn's Community - Our sense of group togetherness and "community" in Tucson

Join the “Dance of Death” in All Souls Procession tonight!

by on Nov. 07, 2010, under Arts, Life

Don’t miss the 21st Annual All Souls Procession tonight! More than 20,000 revelers in calavera (skull) and skeleton costumes will gather tonight starting at 5 p.m. at Epic Cafe, 745 N. 4th Avenue (SW corner of University Blvd). The procession goes south on 4th Avenue, through the Underpass, west onto Congress Street, then north on Stone Avenue.

The Grand Finale at Toole & Stone Ave. will feature pyrotechnics by Flam Chen, Ensphere (rock band), Odaiko Sonora (taiko drumming), Silver Thread Trio and more! New this year will be a metal art tower for the procession’s climax.

“Flam Chen have been creating, performing, and touring new circus and fire theater since 1994. We create dazzling public spectacle by merging daredevil acrobatics, pyrotechnics and a mastery of light, air and fire.”

Log onto www.allsoulsprocession.org or sponsor Many Mouths One Stomach, www.manymouths.org for more information.

Many Mouths One Stomach (MMOS) is a Tucson-based collective of artists, teachers and community activists who come together with the intent to create, inspire, manifest and perpetuate modern festal culture.The All Souls Procession is an event that was created to serve the public need to mourn, reflect, and celebrate the universal experience of Death, through their ancestors, loved ones and the living.

Poster is entitled “For the Road”- original artwork by Philip Felix at Red Sky Studio.

And last year Val Canez, former employee of the Tucson Citizen newspaper was marching in the All Souls Procession, with other former employees carrying a coffin of our beloved print edition. The Tucson Citizen, age 139, ceased publication on May 16, 2009, may it R.I.P.

Photo of Val and “Our epitaph”, courtesy of Ryn Gargulinski, one of the two online Tucsoncitizen.com’s editors.

More in Pol. & Govt.:

I'm So Tranparent

  • http://tucsoncitizen.com/lizard/ Logical Lizard

    Yay, All Souls! Good article Carolyn. I wrote on the same topic today  : )  Hope to see you down there. Have fun.
    Cheers — LL

  • Carolyn Classen

    “I saw dead people” tonight, thousands and thousands walking the procession to the Grand Finale.  What an amazing, cultural event in celebration of the Dead.  Recognized blogger “Artistic Tucson” in the crowd, but not “Logical Lizard” (must have been in costume).

  • Shotgun Slade

    Why are a bunch of zombies walking around mourning and remembering DEATH in a Mardi Gras-style, funeralistic atmosphere? Why the obsession with DEATH? Why obsess over PURGATORY and LIMBO? Why dress up like skeletons & ghosts, and pretend that Halloween never ended? Why place DEATH up on a pedestal as if it were something great & wonderful?   

    If LIVE people want to remember DEAD people, why not incorporate MEMORIAL DAY for remembering ALL of America’s dead, not just our wartime fallen?  PLus, you NEVER see people dressed up as zombies, ghosts & skeletons on Memorial Day!

    NEWSFLASH: How about CELEBRATION of LIFE instead?

    For example: Everybody get out there on VETERANS DAY and celebrate our wonderful VETERANS who LIVE to protect America, and to keep it ALIVE and strong! Wave American flags for our war heros; wave posters of LIVE soldiers!

    People who are ALIVE should celebrate America’s LIFE in the land of the LIVING!

    • yayabrotherhood

      Because a celebration of Life would not be a neo-pagan satanic ritual.

      • Shotgun Slade

        Oh.

  • Ricardo

    wow that ensphere band that played at the finale was terrible. they just dragged on and on, not to mention being completely inappropriate. can we try to get something that fits next year instead of such pretentious garbage?

    • Carolyn Classen

      We didn’t stay for finale, so Ricardo sorry to hear that about the Ensphere rock band. Send your  feedback to the organizers:
      http://www.allsoulsprocession.org/contact or
      http://www.manymouths.org/contact/

      • Ricardo

        thanks for the info, carolyn. my family and i were mourning the loss of my mother this year and the mood of the event was nearly ruined by those hacks. i will pass my feedback on as you suggest, and i’m sure many others will do the same.

  • Alan Leibensperger

    Shotgun Slade,
     You are, of course, entitled to your opinion and your prerogative to avoid  the All Souls Procession as well as any other event you do not like.
    It began when some people wanting solace from a recent bereavement adopted an age old tradition in Mexican culture. Many others feeling the need  to remember and honor departed family members and loved ones in communion in a supportive and loving way contributed to its phenomenal growth making it what it is today. I cannot help but feel a pervasive and powerful good energy there and even a sense of presence beyond the participants themselves.
    It is not intended to be a party for drinking and revelry. It is a solemn (not to be construed as somber) celebration of life, both living and those who have passed on. The reason it has become such a huge and popular event is that  in the spirit of what it is about. People come there in the spirit of what it is about.
    We each have our own way of dealing with grief and loss and deserve to be honored and respected.
    We already have Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day as national holidays. As a veteran, I have attended Memorial Day services and march in the Veteran’s Day parade. However, somehow, most American see Memorial Day as a time for barbecues, shopping or having a day off from work. There are even Veteran’s Day sales.
    Interestingly, as long as the All Souls procession has existed there has been no commercialism associated with it.

  • Alan Leibensperger

    Ricardo,
    I’m very sorry for the loss of your mother.
    I was not at the finale, but I agree that all aspects of the event should be in the spirit of what it’s about.
    Entertainment just for entertainment’s sake or anything inappropriate detract from the true meaing.

  • http://www.aisleynehorganwallace.co.uk Aisleyne Horgan Wallace

    to cover the swearing.