22nd Annual All Souls Procession on Sunday November 6:
5 p.m. procession gathers at 4th Avenue & University Blvd.
6 p.m. procession begins at Epic Cafe, proceeds south on 4th Avenue, through the underpass to Congress St., then west to Mercado San Agustin (100 S. Avenida del Convento) for the grand finale.

Flam Chen and a multitude of other performers will be part of the grand finale,
along with the Community Spirit Group, this years musical guest Roskruge Mariachi, and Odaiko Sonora, Batucaxe, and Tucson Puppet Works. There will be sculptural installations by Mykl Wells, Joe O’Connell, Richard Wizardry, Carlos Noggle, SORIAH, Tucson Arts Brigade, AZ burner CHURCH, Mourning Fyre.

website: allsoulsprocession.org.

The All Souls Procession is perhaps one of the most important, inclusive and authentic public ceremonies in North America today. The Procession had its beginnings in 1990 with a ritualistic performance piece created by local artist Susan Johnson, who was grieving the passing of her father. Inspired by Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos holiday, Johnson felt she should honor her father in celebration and creativity. The performance was very well received and many artists were inspired to continue growing the Procession into its modern incarnation.

Today we find ourselves organizing over 20,000 participants on the streets of downtown Tucson for a two-mile long human-powered procession that ends in the finalizing action of burning a large urn filled with the hopes, offerings and wishes of the public for those who have passed. Inside the event are myriads of installation art, altars, performers, and creatives of all kinds collaborating for almost half the year to prepare their offerings to this amazing event. The All Souls Procession, and now the entire All Souls Weekend, is a celebration and mourning of the lives of our loved ones who have passed.

Many Mouths One Stomach (manymouths.org), a non-profit arts collective based in Tucson, AZ, is the organizing body for the Procession, and serves as a vehicle for working artists to collaborate, create, and inspire the public through Festal Culture.

My husband and I have walked in the past with other calaveras (Spanish for skulls) and skeletons, and it’s always amazing how many people turn out for this wildly popular event.
The crowd size in the past has been estimated at 20,000.

Last year’s blog on the “Dance of Death” at All Souls Procession (click here).

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.