Salem Multicultural Institute
The World Beat Gallery opened in 2006..It is located on the 2nd Floor of
the Reed Opera House, on the corner of Court and Liberty in downtown
Salem, Oregon.
Salem Multicultural Institute
P.O. Box 4611
Salem, OR 97302
503.581.2004
www.worldbeatfestival.org
Salem Multicultural Institute was founded in 1997 to create an atmosphere
of openness and appreciation for people of all ethnic backgrounds. We
believe that education about and exposure to the traditions of different
cultures can counter intolerance and enrich the community. We are best
known for our World Beat Festival, held at Riverfront Park the last weekend of June.
Special thanks to:
Laurel Grove, research, text and development
Mako Hayashi-Mayfield, Japanese cultural consultation and photography
Carlee Murphy, Scottish cultural consultant
Marisa Newnam, Filipino cultural consultant and signage
Erin Zysett, signage, layout and photography
Also thanks to:
Jessica Berger-Rondema, additional research
Mr.&Mrs. Keith McLeod, Scottish wedding photos
Marion Sampang, Filipino wedding gown
Teiko Webright, kimono dressing
Hispanic Holiday Celebrations:
Dia de Los Muertos through
Dia de Los Reyes
Salem Multicultural Institute
October 15 to January 15, 2008
Hispanic Holiday Celebrations
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Hispanic holiday celebrations are rich in pageantry, color and tradition. In this exhibit we attempt to capture the spirit, if not the scope,
of these beautiful cultural events. Beginning with the Day if the Dead
and ending with the Three Kings’ Day our community partners have
provided a vivid glimpse into celebrations deeply rooted in indigenous
and Spanish culture. This exhibit is the direct result of an ongoing
collaborative relationship between the Salem Multicultural Institute
and the citizens of this community. Thank you for visiting.
--SMI Staff and Community Partners
Dia De Los Muertos
Day of the Dead
November 1 and 2
Dia de Los Muertos, Day
of the Dead, is one of
the best known and most
misunderstood of
Mexico’s holidays.
Celebrated on the eve of
November 1, Dia de Los
Muertos is far from the
ghoulish, Halloween celebration we know in the United States.
Dia de Los Muertos is a uniquely Mexican holiday that sprang from a
combination of two traditions. First was the ancestral celebration
indigenous to the Purepecha Empire, which is now the Mexican state
of Michoacan, an island in the Gulf of Mexico. The second is the
Catholic tradition of All Souls Day brought by Spanish conquerors,
which is still celebrated as a separate holiday in most of the Spanishspeaking world.
Often misinterpreted as a celebration of the macabre and gruesome,
Dia de Los Muertos is a beautiful ritual in which Mexicans joyously
remember their loved ones who have died and so embrace this
fleeting thing we call life.
As the end of October approaches the entire country of Mexico
prepares itself for the all-night vigils and building of ofrendas,
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altars to the dead, unique to
this holiday. Village squares fill
with stands that offer all types of
brightly colored figurines depicting dancing calacas, skeletons,
and painted paper-maché skulls.
Vendors also sell sugar skulls, pan
de muertos, bread of the dead,
and the cempasúchil, marigold,
flower. All of these items are used
to adorn graves and ofrendas.
On November 1, families construct
the ofrendas, altars, to their loved
ones who passed away. These
altars are typically set up in the
home and are decorated with
pictures of the deceased, and the
things that made them happy
while they were alive. Items like
soccer balls or violins, favorite
foods or art work are lovingly laid
out. Anything the departed
treasured is put on display as a
celebration of their life.
In some parts of the country, as the sun begins to set, celebrants
parade through town, dressed as calacas, and carrying the many items
they will strew across the graves of their loved ones. Many people
believe that this is the night that the veil between the spirit world and
the living is thinnest and therefore the best time to remind the dead
how they are loved and missed. Other people just see it as a time to
remember and embrace the life we are given, however long it is.
The night parade of calacas commences with an all-night graveside
vigil. Candles are lit and cempasúchil petals by the millions are tossed
across the ground, blanketing the graves in golden snow. Songs are
sung and stories are shared about the loved one. When the sun rises,
many people head to church for mass, then everyone, living and dead,
heads home for a long-awaited sleep.
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nuestra Señora De Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 12
December 12, feast day of “Our Lady
of Guadalupe”, is a day of pilgrimage in
Mexico. Every year, thousands of people
make the trek from their home villages
to visit the virgin. Many come by car,
bus, bicycle, on foot, or on their knees.
Many people come to fulfill a promise
for a miracle received from the Virgin.
Some people self-sacrifice their body
with thorns, or other sharp objects.
The church has strongly dissuaded the
faithful from this form of offerings, but
their strong faith prevails and many
arrive to the altar with blood on their
hands and knees.
The Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City
is where the miraculous image of the Virgen Morena, brown skin
Virgin, is kept. Numerous miracles have been attributed to the
image of Mexico’s patron saint. The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of
Mexico’s national treasures. The Basilica of Guadalupe is an
enormous atrium that covers more than 46,000 square meters
(nearly 500,000 square feet). The day before the actual celebration
this huge structure begins to fill with devoted pilgrims, dancers,
musicians and other performers who come to offer their art as an
offering to the Virgin. They perform wherever there is space. By
nightfall, the atrium is buzzing and bursting with people of all ages
from all over the country who have gathered physically and
spiritually to celebrate mass.
While Mexico City’s celebration is the largest celebration of the Virgin
Mary, towns and villages across Mexico glow and crackle with firecrackers, music and holiday lights as people celebrate the apparition
of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.
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Hispanic Holiday Celebrations
Las Posadas
The Shelter
December 16 through
December 24
Las Posadas is a religious
celebration that begins on
December 16 and ends
on December 24. It is an
enactment of Mary and
Joseph’s journey to
Bethlehem for the Census and their search for lodging. Posada is the
Spanish word for shelter.
Each family in a neighborhood is assigned a night for the posada and
each home sets a traditional nacimiento, or nativity.
The posada celebration begins with a procession headed by Mary on
a donkey and Joseph on foot. As an alternative to having someone
dress as Mary and Joseph, a couple of children or young people will
carry a statute representing Mary and Joseph next to a palm tree. (It
is a common belief among the Mexican folk that on their journey Mary
and Joseph were protected by a palm tree from the persecution of
Roman soldiers).
During the posada procession, Mary and Joseph are followed by
neighbors carrying candles and singing the litany in Latin. They walk
around the neighborhood until they sing the whole litany, ending at the
house where the day’s posada celebration will be held. There is one
group of singers inside the house and another outside with Mary and
Joseph, who sing a song asking for posada. The group inside sings
telling them why they can’t offer them shelter. They go back and forth
for several verses until finally the singers inside are convinced that
Mary is indeed the Mother of God, and they allow the pilgrims inside.
This is a moment of merriment and everyone sings as they enter and
light sparkles in celebration.
Once inside, a prayer or rosary is said. Then a piñata, traditionally in
the shape of a seven-sided star, is strung up on a patio or in the
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middle of the street. The
children are blindfolded and
take turns hitting the piñata
until it breaks and the fruit
inside falls down. The
children rush to get the fruit
and with their pockets and
hands full, go happily to seek
their parents.
After the piñata is broken,
everyone enjoys the food
prepared for the occasion:
atole, chocolate caliente,
ponche, tamales y buñuelos.
What a great way to end the
night! Everyone goes home
happy, ready to repeat the
event the following day at a
different neighbor’s house.
The posada celebration ends
on December 24, the Noche
Buena, or the Holy Night before December 25, Navidad, Christmas.
At midnight on December 24, some families and neighbors have
celebrations at home to rock the baby Jesus with songs and prayers,
while others might attend a midnight mass, Misa de Gallo. Dinner is
served right after. The next day is a holiday of rest, peace and quiet.
Families all stay home to eat delicious left-overs.
There is no visit from Papa Noel, Santa Claus, in Mexico. Instead,
children receive their gifts from Los Reyes Magos, the Three Magi or
Kings, on January 6.
La Piñata
The ubiquitous piñata has been a part of Mexican culture for
hundreds of years. Today, piñatas are used at almost every form of
celebration, from birthday parties to anniversary celebrations, but
the paper-maché treasure trove has its roots in the posada, or
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Hispanic Holiday Celebrations
La Poinsettia
Flor de Noche Buena
Flor de Noche Buena, the flower of
the Holy Night, is the flower we call
Poinsettia in the English-speaking
world.
The first U.S. Ambassador to
Mexico, Joel Robert Poinsett, saw
the flowers adorning the churches
of Taxco, Mexico and sent the
plants to decorate his mansion in
Charlestonville, South Carolina.
Several years later, during a visit home he was surprised to find that
the entire town of Charlestonville was growing the Christmas flower
and calling it poinsettia, after the man who brought it to the United
States.
Poinsett dedicated the last years of his life to making the poinsettia
an official Mexican symbol of Christmas throughout the world.
Holiday Recipes from Hispanic Culture
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shelter, celebrations brought to the
New World by Spanish missionaries.
When the missionaries arrived in
Mexico, they encountered welldeveloped native cultures with
established belief systems and
languages. Often, missionaries
found it difficult to communicate
some of the more abstract Christian
ideas, like sin, to indigenous people.
This idea basic to the missionaries’
faith, but so foreign to many native
groups, needed a concrete
explanation. The missionaries
sought to overcome culture and
language barriers through
reenactments and tangible symbolic gestures. Thus the posada was
created to explain the Bible’s story of Mary and Joseph, and the piñata
effigy was created to illustrate the idea of sin.
The traditional posada piñata is in the shape of a seven-sided star. Each
point on the star represents one of the seven deadly sins. The person
wielding the stick is blindfolded to represent how sin can be blinding.
The blindfolded person is guided by family and friends shouting
instructions to help destroy the sin.
¡Dale, dale, dale! ¡arriba… abajo! ¡duro…duro! ¡rómpela...rómpela!
Hit it, hit it, hit it! Up...down! harder...harder! break it... break it!
When someone is well guided, the piñata is broken. The breaking open
of the piñata symbolizes the defeat of sin and destruction of evil. Beyond
the initial struggle is the fruit of heaven, which rains down on the faithful
in the form of candy, toys and small gifts.
The piñata activity proved popular with many native people and drew
them into the church, where missionaries shared their ideas and
religion.
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Hispanic Holiday Celebrations
Dia de Los Tres Reyes Magos
La Rosca de Reyes
Three Kings Day
King Cake
January 6
El Dia de Los Reyes, Three Kings
Day, is celebrated on January 6 in
most of the Hispanic world. This
is the day of the Epiphany, the day
when the Three Wise Men or Magi
arrived in Bethlehem with gifts for
the baby Jesus. To celebrate this
event, children receive gifts from
Los Reyes, the Three Magi.
A couple of days before, the
children write letters to all
three Reyes, or to their favorite
Rey Mago: Melchoir, Caspar, or
Balthasar. In these letters, the
children ask for what they would
like. Before going to bed on the
night of January 5, children place their letters inside old shoes and
place them under their beds, on their balconies, or in their living
rooms, any place where Los Tres Reyes can find them. The tradition
is that each king will leave one gift, and children eagerly wait for the
light of the new day to see what the kings have left for them.
While the children are in bed, parents go shopping for toys. The
streets are filled with vendors, and parents choosing gifts for their
children according to their means.
The morning of January 6 is a morning like no other. The children
run to see what gifts the Three Magi have left. It does not matter if
they got what they asked for; they are happy to receive a gift. The
streets fill with laughter and the noise of cars, bicycles, skates, balls,
and doll carriages. It is a day of happiness in every Mexican home.
That evening, an early meal is prepared and friends and families
get together to celebrate the Epiphany, eating Rosca de Reyes (King
Cake) and hot chocolate.
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La Rosca de Reyes, or King
Cake, was brought to the
New World by the Spaniards.
The Rosca, pronounced
Rascón in Spain, is served
with hot chocolate on
January 6 to celebrate the
day the three kings, or magi,
brought gifts to the baby
Jesus. For this reason, a
plastic figurine of the baby
Jesus is hidden inside the
Rosca, symbolizing the need
to find a secure place where
Herod could not find him.
Each person cuts a slice from the Rosca. Each guest carefully
examines the slice, hoping they did not get the figurine. The person
who finds the figurine in his/her piece of Rosca is expected to host
everyone present at a dinner to celebrate February 2, El Dia de La
Candelaria, or Candlemas Day.
Toys in Mexico
Handmade, paper-maché and
wooden toys are still given to
children throughout Mexico
and South America for the
Three Kings Day celebrations.
Often brightly painted with
traditional motifs, these toys
are becoming increasingly
popular among folk art collectors as well.
Salem Multicultural Institute