Dia de los Muertos-themed procession kicks off El Teatro Campesino’s 60th Anniversary

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Hundreds of people participated in the traditional Dia de Los Muertos festival and procession hosted by El Teatro Campesino on Nov. 2, and according to Christy Sandoval, the theater company’s executive director, the date could not be more significant. 

“November 2nd officially marks our birthday,” she said. “We recognize it as the day that the Teatro was founded 60 years ago. It’s our kickoff, and we have plans to do a series of events over the next year, and maybe the next two years.”

The event started at noon, with the display of ofrendas, or altars for the dead, in the Teatro’s lobby. The first performance was by the traditional dancers of Grupo Folklorico de Anzar, founded by Frida Calderón Correa and Roslyn Garcia, two students from Anzar High School.

Liz Samuels, a Spanish teacher at the high school and the group’s advisor, said the members were honored to be asked to participate in the celebration, their first partnership with Teatro.

“It’s a beautiful event that has built a community here at San Juan,” she said. “It is great to be a part of it.”

Named Artist of the Year by the Tulare Arts Consortium, Visalia poet Michael Jasso followed, making his second appearance at a Teatro event, having also performed at the last Palabra showcase.  

Aztec dancers Kalpulli Oceloyotl rounded out the afternoon before the main event: the procession through town.

It was led by a golf cart carrying Valdez, his wife, Lupe Valdez, and Esperanza del Valle director Janet Johns, driven by Valdez’s son Kinan Valdez. 

A flatbed truck filled with costumed Teatro actors and Esperanza del Valle dancers followed close behind, accompanied by Castroville’s Banda Vanidosa, performing as El Teatro Campesino’s “La Banda Calavera.”

The procession wound for more than a block as it went from Fourth Street to Washington Street, then down Third Street and Muckelemi to return to the playhouse. 

The celebration ended with an encore of the previous day’s performances on the Celebración de Vida stage: a comical reenactment of the story of Adam and Eve, followed by a dance routine based on a song adaptation by Teatro veteran Eduardo Robledo.

The celebration of Dia de los Muertos in San Juan Bautista began in 1972, the year Teatro founder Valdez and his company relocated to town from Fresno.  

Valdez reflected on those early days in a discussion with BenitoLink on his book, Theatre of the Sphere, an outline of his artistic theory.

Faced with a chilly reception from the locals who, Valdez said, thought the 20 or so members of the troupe were a “contingent of Cesar Chavez organizers who were going to start organizing all the unions here,” he conceived of the procession as a way of easing the tensions.

Valdez said the first procession began at Mission San Juan Bautista and proceeded down Third Street. The following year, Valdez and company were asked to help stage a similar procession in East Los Angeles, and from there the tradition began to spread around the country. 

By the second year, people who had been “particularly hostile” began warming to the troupe, and participation grew.

“Harvey Nyland was the mayor,” Valdez said, “and he dressed up like Abraham Lincoln. They got a stagecoach to join in, which we really appreciated.”

That first celebration set the stage for an annual event for the whole community. 

“Someone told us it takes 20 years to move into San Juan,” Valdez said. “The old-timers didn’t know who we were. But we won people’s good faith, and I felt a certain sense of acceptance for the role of the theatre here in the town.”

Acceptance was an understatement when it came to the most recent procession. Previously, it had been held in the evening, but a large crowd came out this Nov. 2, regardless of the hot weather. 

“People tap into the traditions of Dia de los Muertos,” Valdez said. “It’s a relief for them because it gives them a perspective on death, which is there, but instead of scaring them, they think, ‘I see. I can go with this concept.’”

Valdez said that moving from mourning the dead to celebrating them as spirits who are still with us allows us to reflect on what kind of ofrenda might be built in each of our memories.

“People understand, ‘I too am going to have my day,’” he said. “But I will be remembered as well, and therefore I had better live my life so that there will be others to honor me.”

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