Have fun with death at festival

Winchester to mark Mexican holiday with music, food and ofrenda contest

Death lives within you.

According to Winchester Cultural Center cultural specialist Irma Varela-Wynants, that is a belief that is embraced by many Mexicans; a belief that is greatly connected to the traditional Mexican holiday, the Day of the Dead.

"Mexicans embrace death, they make fun of death and believe that it is always with you," Varela-Wynants said. "So why should you fear it? This philosophy explains much about this holiday and the way that it is celebrated."

Winchester Cultural Center, 3130 S. McLeod Drive, will commemorate this day of remembrance with the Life in Death Festival, planned from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

The festival will include educational workshops for children that will outline cultural facts and misnomers; authentic food; live traditional music and dance from Mexican entertainers Los Cenzontles (The Mockingbirds); and an ofrendas competition. An ofrenda is a lavishly decorated memorial laid at a loved one's gravesite on the Day of the Dead.

Patrons are invited to dress in traditional Mexican garb.

"I will be wearing one of the traditional costumes," Varela-Wynants said. "But in Mexico, people don't typically do that anymore. They go to the cemeteries on this day and take the ofrendas as an offering, a remembrance of loved ones who are gone, but not lost forever."

The festival also will feature a children's craft session where kids can learn how to make sugar skulls, clay skulls and flowers.

"All of these would be used for the ofrendas," said Jeanne Voltura, who volunteered with the festival last year. "The Mexicans make fun of death, play with it. That is why you will see these skulls. The ofrendas contest is a fun way to honor those you've lost, but also to remember not to take life too seriously. It's my favorite part of the festival."

There will be a main folk music and dance performance in the theater beginning at 7 p.m. Admission to the concert is $15 each. Admission to the festival is free.

For more information, call 455-7346.