When the rains started easing, Lila Downs knew that the dead were drawing near.
During the months of her childhood that she spent in Oaxaca, the Mexican American vocalist remembers the feel and smell of the valley as the seasons changed, “Which is very related to the offerings of the Day of the Dead, frijoles, calabaza and corn,” she said in a recent video call from her home in Oaxaca.
Downs returns to the Bay Area for a Cal Performances Día de los Muertos concert Oct. 25, an event that has become one of the region’s most visible Day of the Dead celebrations. She learned about the tradition’s role in connecting the living with their departed loved ones during the time she spent in Oaxaca with her Mixtec maternal grandmother.
“She’d say, ‘You know, my compadre came last night and was telling me this and that,” Downs recalled. “Sometimes my mother would not have the patience, and say ‘No, that didn’t happen.’ ‘Yes, I was talking with him.’ Día de Los Muertos has always been about how the dead, people in the past, are sending us messages that would help.”
In recent decades the Mexican celebration of Día de los Muertos has been widely embraced across the Bay Area, providing a comforting counterpoint to the thrills, chills and shenanigans of Halloween. It’s a time when the wall between realms gets porous and the ancestors draw near. Opportunities to memorialize loved ones with ofrendas, face painting, and vividly hued orange and red marigolds provide an opportunity to acknowledge death as inextricably linked the present.
While the South Bay’s major Day of the Dead celebration on the Plaza de Cesar Chavez, Dia San Jose, was cancelled several weeks ago due to the loss of corporate sponsorship, there are dozens of gatherings around Nov. 1 offering a variety of ways to mark the holiday. All events are free unless otherwise noted.
Children’s Discovery Museum: A celebration 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 1 features sand painting with stencils, storytelling, giant skeleton puppets, and a calaveras procession led by Teatro Familia Aztlán that visits at Lupe, the museum’s 14,000-year-old muerto mammoth, along the way. In conjunction with the Children’s Discovery Museum, San Jose’s Multicultural Artists Guild presents the Art of Remembrance Ofrenda Exhibit through Nov. 4 at the SJSU King Library’s Africana, Asian American, Chicano & Native American Studies Center (www.cdm.org/event/dia-de-los-muertos).
La Peña Cultural Center: The center presents its long-running Día de los Muertos celebration 6-9 p.m. Nov. 1 with a bilingual four-winds ceremony led by Mayra Hernández, arts and crafts activities for kids, artisan vendors, and an evening-ending son jarocho performance by María de la Rosa and special guests. A $5 minimum donation is requested (lapena.org).
San Jose’s El Bazar Azteca: The center holds its 3rd Annual Día de los Muertos from noon to 5 p.m. Nov. 1 with an opening Aztec dance performance, mariachi, baile folklorico performance, and raffle (www.elbazarazteca.com).
San Francisco Symphony: For a full immersion Día de los Muertos experience, the orchestra transforms Davies Symphony Hall into a magical realm, with festivities starting 1:30 p.m. Nov. 1. On stage, Colombian-American conductor Lina González-Granados, a rising star, conducts the Symphony on a program of music by Ricardo Castro, Paul Desenne, Gabriela Lena Frank, Jimmy López, Arturo Márquez, and Gabriela Ortiz, with performances by dancers from Redwood City’s Casa Círculo Cultural. Meanwhile, the Davies lobbies brim with art installations and preconcert activities by local artists, community groups, and Latin American cultural partners. Curated by longtime SF Symphony collaborator Martha Rodríguez-Salazar, this year’s theme honors the memory and perspective of children by commemorating Día de los Angelitos, or Day of the Little Angels, also celebrated on Nov. 1. Tickets are $45-$199; half-price for patrons under 18; www.sfsymphony.org).
Las Cafeteras: Getting an early start for Día de los Muertos, the Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles band Las Cafeteras performs at the SFJAZZ Center 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31. Experts in son jarocho and other Mexican folkloric styles, Las Cafeteras perform their original multi-dimensional two-act theatrical and musical production “Hasta La Muerte,” which recasts Mexican folklore to tell new stories, uplifting the role of traditional healers, curanderas. With choreography, poetry, and a score of original and traditional songs, the show explores the stages of grief and loss through the celebration of life and death. Tickets run $44.50 to $94.50 (the concert will be live-steamed for SFJAZZ members). La Cafeteras (lascafeteras.com) also performs Oct. 30 at Sonoma State’s Green Music Center, Nov. 1 at UC Davis’s Mondavi Center, and Nov. 2 at Carmel’s Sunset Cultural Center.
Unity Council: One of the region’s largest Day of the Dead celebrations takes place in Oakland’s Fruitvale Village 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 2, presented by the Unity Council. The 30th Annual Día de los Muertos Festival includes live music, food stands, an exhibit of ofrendas, Aztec dances, low riders and local artisans. The festival’s themes is “Aqui Estamos y No Nos Vamos” (Here we are and here we stay). More information is at unitycouncil.org.
There are many other Día de los Muertos celebrations in the coming days, though a large gathering isn’t necessary to partake in the spirit of the holiday. For Downs, who lost her husband, saxophonist and musical collaborator Paul Cohen, in December of 2022, “the dead start to appear when the weather changes,” she said. “My husband died three years now, and I do feel he’s more present, sharing my thoughts, feelings and plans. It’s mostly around this time that we’re having a dialogue with our ancestors.”
Contact Andrew Gilbert at [email protected].
LILA DOWNS
Performing a Dia de los Muertos concert, presented by Cal Performances
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 25
Where: Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
Tickets: $35-$125; calperformances.org