All Souls Procession Celebrates Loss
Thursday, 28 October 2010 21:19
Tucsonans will gather downtown at Tucson Puppet Works to make masks and other creations for the All Souls Procession held on Sunday, November 7.
Inspired by Mexico’s Día de los Muertos holiday, the procession began in 1990 by local artist Susan Johnson, who was grieving the passing of her father.
Now run by the artist organization Many Mouths One Stomach, more than 20,000 people gather on North Fourth Avenue to pay homage to what they have lost in their lives.Every year preceding the All Souls Procession, Tucson Puppet Works hosts free mask-making workshops. People get together, share stories and get their hands dirty molding and painting clay masks, a process that usually takes more than a few sessions.
“One year I made a gigantic bee mask with a noisemaker that said, ‘We need more bees please’ because I was really sad that all of the bees were dying and that farmers were having problems,” workshop instructor Elysia Hansel said.
“So it can be a political thing, or the loss of a pet or the loss of a time in your life. There are a lot of ends in one’s life and we are here to facilitate art being made because of it.”
This year, workshops are being held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 9 p.m. through Nov. 4. At special workshops held on Oct. 10 and 17, they made paper pulp masks and paper lanterns, and on Sunday, Oct. 24 they will make sugar skulls.
On Nov. 7, the procession will meet at Epic Cafe on Fourth Avenue and University Boulevard at 5 p.m for about an hour before walking to downtown.
The grand finale site, still to be determined, will end the night with the burning of a large urn filled with hopes, offerings and wishes of the public for those who have passed. The grand finale will feature performers such as Flam Chen and Silver Thread Trio.
“This year I’ll be making something for my grandmother who just went into hospice,” Hansel said. “That’s the funny bittersweet thing about the All Souls Procession, you mourn while you celebrate.”
Written by Kirsten Boele You are reading All Souls Procession Celebrates Loss articles
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