Church Celebrates Dia de Los Muertos with Singing, Dancing and Skulls

Two women paint their faces for
Dia de Los Muertos.

Hundreds of guests from all ethnic backgrounds flooded into the gates of Chapel of the Chimes early Saturday afternoon for the time-honored Mexican ritual Dia de Los Muertos.

Eddie X. Ramirez, who has lived in Hayward for 46 years, said many cars came in and out of the church parking lot during the six hour-long celebrations.

“They just kept coming and coming,” Ramirez said of the attendees.

In previous years, organizers stated they only drew in about 300 guests. But due to mass advertising efforts, which included radio spots, the event “blew up,” said Robin Russell, sales manager of the church and one of the organizers of the event.

He estimated potentially thousands of people had already come and gone.

Traditional makeup is worn by almost all festival goers.

“We started doing this two years ago, and each one was very small,” said Russell. “This year we just decided we were going to make this a very large event and it blew up and it’s really awesome.”

Though the event cost the church $40,000, Russell says they are doing it as a way to give back to the community.

“This is to say thank you to the community and just recognize their tradition,” said Russell.

The event was celebrated with traditional folkloric and Aztec dance performances, a Mariachi band and a Catholic service.

In addition to the event’s festivities, attendees were invited to take part in sugar skull decorating activities, which is part of an ancient tradition where skulls were kept as trophies and displayed during rituals to symbolize death and birth.

Notes were written to loved ones, hung on clotheslines stretching across the park.

The ritual dates back more than 2,500 years according to Chapel of the Chimes web page.

Attendees both young and old were given a sugar skull and a variety of color paints, pipe cleaners, and glitter to create their masterpieces that were then used to decorate altars to deceased loved ones.

The remainder left undecorated was taken to local schools so that students can decorate their own skulls with the help of volunteers from Chapel of the Chimes.

“Chapel of the Chimes is doing a good job, the event has turned into a very communal environment,” said Ramirez as he looked back on the history of the event.

“We’ve seen a lot of people we know, plus it’s just a respect thing of culture. The folks and festivities are just wonderful, just brings the community together.”

A look into the mirror reveals a culture that is still alive and thriving today.

When it comes to organizing the event, it was about people knowing people, said Russell.

“We have a lot of people who work here [Chapel of the Chimes] who are very in tune to the community, so we reached out to the community,” said Russell.

In addition to music and dance, vintage cars and motorcycles were on display. Russell said it was a weekend receptionist who had a connection with a local car company that was able to provide them for the festival.

Chapel of the Chimes takes part in many traditional holiday events throughout the year in order to show respect to each culture, said Russell.

“This cemetery is so diverse, it’s amazing. There’s every walk of life in here,” said Russell.

They hope to host future events this year such as Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.