Border-crossing journalism from the Sacramento Valley
by Yucheng Tang
posted Nov. 19
Read in English here.
Al entrar al lugar llamado “The Barn” donde mucha gente estaba reunida para la celebración mexicana del Día de los Muertos el 2 de noviembre, yo no anticipé que tal celebración me haría reconsiderar un festival chino – Día de la Limpieza de las Tumbas – que fue parte de mi propia niñez.
by Yucheng Tang
posted Nov. 13
How can a day that’s about death feel like a huge party?
When I joined the crowd at The Barn at Meriam Park for a Nov. 2 celebration of Day of the Dead — a Mexican tradition called Día de los Muertos in Spanish — I didn’t expect it to lead me to reconsideration of a Chinese festival, Tomb Sweeping Day, that was part of my own childhood.
by Ulises Duenas
essay posted Oct. 29
Death is universal and inevitable. It’s almost impossible to prevent a loved one’s death from being emotionally painful when it happens. But how a culture or family views death and the passing of a loved one is far from universal.
Día de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead,” is a Mexican holiday that came from combining Aztec and Spanish traditions. The focus is on celebrating the lives of those we lost and using food and music to give them a good time before their souls return to rest. The holiday is all about associating death with feelings of joy and thankfulness rather than with reopening old wounds.
