 Welcome to the Longmont Museum on the Internet. My name is Justin Veach. I'm the manager of the Museum's Stewart Auditorium and we are coming at you live and direct from the Stewart this afternoon, this fine November 1st afternoon. Tonight, this afternoon, I mean, we always do things in the evening and now we're doing something in the afternoon and it's confusing me. Anyway, this afternoon we are celebrating Dia de los Muertos. This is our 20th year doing so. So this is the 20th anniversary of us starting up these Dia de los Muertos celebrations here in Longmont. So we're very excited to be marking this year amidst COVID, which is why we're coming at you virtually this evening on Facebook, LongmontPublicMedia.org and local Comcast Channel 880. I want to thank all the folks who make these programs possible, our museum members, our donors, the friends of the Longmont Museum, the Scientific and Cultural Community Foundation, otherwise known as SCFD, and our friends at NextLite. And to say a few words about NextLite, we have Lyra Nicley with us. Please welcome Lyra Nicley. Like Justin said, I'm Lyra Nicley. I'm the marketing manager for NextLite and we're so excited to be partnering with the Longmont Museum for this day of the dead event. This is the favorite event of mine that we participate in because it really highlights what Longmont is all about, community, culture, heritage, and family. And it's awesome that NextLite gets to be a part of it. I hope that you guys can enjoy this event, even in these crazy times. And I also hope that you have a fast internet connection that will allow you to watch it from the comfort of your own home. Feliz de los Muertos y muchas gracias. Thank you Lyra. And thank you. NextLite. I would like to introduce to you now our MC for this evening. She's MC'd our Dia de los Muertos celebrations for the last five years and we'd like to welcome her back. Ladies and gentlemen, Laura Savala. Bienvenidos a la celebración más grande del estado de Colorado de Dia de Muertos. Welcome. Today at the dead, the celebration largest in the state of Colorado. And while we're not able to join and do this in person in our beautiful city of Longmont, there was not a day and there was no COVID, no Rona that was going to stop the Longmont Museum from giving us another Dia de los Muertos celebration. We thank you so much for watching. We want to invite everybody to create watch parties through Facebook and give us the opportunity to continue to share and expand esta celebración tan grande, tan bonita. Ayúdenos a compartir, hagan sus watch parties en Facebook para que muchas, muchas personas alcancen a ver la celebración del día de hoy. Bienvenidos a Dia de los Muertos. A continuación tenemos a Las Dalias. Las Dalias is a Colorado based female Mexican trio that seeks to musically evoke the voices, particular female voices of our Mexican heritage. Un fuerte aplauso para Las Dalias. You hear us, this predates 1925. We hope it's going to go through many, many, many artists have covered all of these. So we hope to be able to get these through. This next one is very popular, Cielito Lindo. Beautiful traditional Mexican song. It's called Cancion Mistecca. We hope you like it. A traditional song for you called Beautiful Song, covered by many, many, many people. And it has very ancient roots. Un aplauso muy fuerte para Las Dalias, por favor. Dia de los Muertos ha sido celebrado por más de 3,000 años por los mexicanos. Day of the dead has been celebrated for over 3,000 years. It is a sacred, sacred celebration to honor and remember our loved ones. We create beautiful, beautiful altares to honor and remember and allow our young generations to never forget the patriots of our families, our ancestors. Las familias mexicanas llevan años y años celebrando Día de los Muertos para honrar, celebrar y respetar a nuestros seres queridos. Creamos unos altares hermosos, muy coloridos, que nos ayudan a recordar a nuestros seres queridos. Los altares con ofrendas para recordar a nuestros seres queridos. These altars have offerings to our loved ones so that we can all continue to remember their favorite food, their favorite game boards, everything that they loved, all of their hobbies. It is now celebrated in so many parts of the world, places like Asia and Europe. And now the United States has embraced Día de los Muertos because it is a celebration that any religion, any culture, any individual can take and make it into their own. Our next performer is Laura Soto. She is a cultural broker and activist, born in Chihuahua, and raised by cultural in the United States. She is a DACA recipient who brings 20 years of experience advocating for underrepresented groups. In the last five years, Laura has served her local Boulder community as a speaker, artist, paralegal, professional translator, interpreter, community organizer, and resource navigator. She brings her talent as an artist into her activism via performance, spoken word, and written poetry. Laura is currently operating, is currently operations manager at the Philanthropies Foundation and a fierce advocate for the Black Indigenous people of color. Laura is also a co-founder of Voces Unidas Boulder County and Colectivo Cultura, a member of the Latinx advisory committee for the congressman Joe Naguse, the St. Brain Valley School District Parents Involved in Education Task Force and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. A continuación, Laura Soto. Pido que escuchen mi amor por ustedes convertido en poesía, padre. Quiero honrarte celebrando tu memoria. Quiero ser la continuación de tu esfuerzo, de tu trabajo en vida, de tu propósito de haber venido a esta tierra. Quiero aprender de tus enseñanzas, refugiarme en tu protección y tu guía, como si nunca hubieras muerto, como si estuvieras a mi lado, todavía. Quiero saber que como parte de un gran legado mi existir hace sentido. Quiero despejar la ilusión que la vida y la muerte no sean parte de lo mismo. Porque sé que al morir no te has desaparecido. Hoy te rezo. Invoco tu presencia a descender esta vela. Acompáñame, abrázame, acurruca tu hija. Te pido a ti y a todos mis ancestros ya libres del sufrir de vivir, del pesar de vivir, del peso de carne y hueso libres de su tormento, del cansancio de recorrer tanto camino, de librar tantas batallas de tanto esfuerzo. Ayúdenme ahora a mí a sobrevivir el mío. Ayúdenme a descubrir cuál es mi destino. Ayúdenme a honrar su confianza en mí para escribir el legado de nuestra historia el resto del camino. Mi espíritu entiende que estoy vinculada al suyo. Mi espíritu entiende que escuchan mi llamada con amor y cariño. Ayúdenme a sanar esas heridas de familia que se han heredado a través del tiempo para proteger a mis hijos y a nuestras futuras generaciones de los mismos sufrimientos. Ayúdenme a ponerlos en un buen lugar en este camino que compartimos. Pero más que nada, más que nada, ayúdenme a no sentirme sola, sin su cariño, a saber que están ahí cuando no hay más para darme consuelo, que ustedes viven en mí en todo momento, que todo lo que vivió y aprendió cada uno de mis muertos se queda conmigo. Les pido sean mis ángeles que guían mi camino. Les pido a mis ancestros en este día santo se comuniquen conmigo. Gracias, ahora lo compartiré en inglés para asegurar bilingüe. Prayer to my dead. I pray that on this blessed day all my dearly departed come back to stay. Stay a little, honor me with your company. I ask my dear father to come visit with his daughter. As well as all my ancestors I plead you hear my love for you turned poetry. I wish to honor you celebrating your memory. I wish to be the continuation of your legacy, of your fight, your work in this life, of your purpose to have ever set foot on this earth. I pray your work continues through me. I wish to learn from your teachings, to be embraced by your spirit for protection and guidance as if you had never died, as if you were still by my side. I want to know that my own life makes sense as part of a greater chain of existence. I want to unveil the illusion that life and death are not one and the same. Help me the illusion dissipate. Help me the truth elevate. I pray to you on this blessed day because I am certain that even in death you have not gone away. I invoke your presence with this candle. Accompany me, hug me, sustain me, embrace your beloved daughter. I pray to you my father and to all my ancestors now free from the burden of life, free from the weight of life, from the torment of carrying the weight of the flesh and all its burdens, from the exhaustion of overcoming such long journeys. I plead that you now help me to overcome my own. Help me to my own destiny uncover. Help me to honorably trust, honor that trust that you have invested in me as your heir. Honor your legacy. My spirit knows that it is bound to yours, that you hear my call with boundless love. My spirit knows. Help me to heal those family wounds that have been inherited over time. Help me to protect my children and all our future generations from our families suffering yours and mine. Help me to place them in a better spot on this generational journey we share forever. But more than anything, help me to overcome the loneliness of not being together. Help me to know that you are always there for me when there is nothing else that can possibly offer consolation. Remind me that you live in me at every trying moment. That everything each of my ancestors lived and learned stays with me. That we are forever brown. Bound together remind me. I humbly ask that you be my angels that guide me. I humbly ask my ancestors that on this blessed day you bless me with your company and communicate with me. The following poem is also a very traditional style of poetry from Dia de los Muertos. It is a calavera which started in the days of la revolución mexicana back from the revolution in a way of protest, in a way in which someone could write what they were really thinking in a time of risk. They would write these calaveras and protest to corrupt politicians, to the government, to the system and nowadays the tradition has followed even after hundreds of years continued. In school I remember as a child writing calaveras to my teachers, especially the ones I didn't like, to your family, to lovers as in the Mexican tradition of going through the hard moments with laughter, with joy and with hope for the future. That is the next poem, a calavera to all citizens. It is about writing calaveras. It comes from the revolutionary times in which the press was used to protest against a corrupt government or against a particular politician. And even children today, hundreds of years later, have been taught in school in Mexico to write calaveras. We could write it to our teachers, especially the ones we don't want, to our family, to the boyfriend, the calavera in the good Mexican tradition, brings with it the element of joy, the joke, the joke towards death to overcome the difficult moments. So today I bring a calavera to the citizens during the election season, specifically because this is election season. Let us not forget to vote. You can vote even the same day, November 3rd, and register the same day. So let's get it done. Calavera to all citizens. Today the veil between life and death fades. Lady Death calls upon us to listen to what we do not wish to hear, that our time on this earth she has already measured, that we are by her timing limited. For better or for worse, our life does not belong to us. It lies in her hands. It belongs to her. We are not these individuals who have freedom of thought or independence as trying to fool us says our government. They feed us lies while they are fed from our labor to keep us ignorant. They manipulate the people of this nation, making us believe we need national security, property, and possessions when in reality our spirits have always been free, weightless, and boundless. We travel between worlds, between dimensions, and realities. We travel between life and death. We are celestial beings. This is what Lady Death comes today to remind us that she comes for all citizens equally, decent or indecent. She comes for us equally, for the young and for the old, for the rich and for the poor. She comes just the same for conservatives and liberals. So rest your mind today about social justices. For death comes as the most, one and only, most just governance. This is what Lady Death comes today to remind us that she comes for all citizens equally, for the young and for the old, for the young and for the old, for the young and for the old. This is what Lady Death comes today to remind us. This is what Lady Death comes today to remind us that she comes for all citizens equally, Cuando son ellos quienes alimentan del pueblo nos manipulan haciéndonos creer que necesitamos seguridad nacional y cosas materiales cuando en realidad nuestros espíritus ya son libres y viajantes viajamos entre mundos y dimensiones y realidades viajamos entre la vida y la muerte somos seres celestiales de esto la parka viene hoy a recordarte viene por los ciudadanos igualmente decentes e indecentes bien igual por los viejos los jóvenes los ricos y los pobres viene el igual por los votantes y no votantes viene el igual por los liberales y conservadores así que no te preocupes por hoy por las injusticias sociales que la parka viene por todos como la más justa gobernante gracias y por último traigo un cortopoema del sufrimiento que sufren todos los vivos el más grande el sufrimiento de amor and to close today I have one last short poem dedicated to the biggest suffering of the living love lo que no sabía es que enamorada de ti había caído tú me inspiraste a creer en mis sueños mostrándome cómo luchabas por los tuyos tú me ayudaste a escribir de nuevo leyéndome los versos que recién habías compuesto me hiciste creer que yo tenía un talento escondido gracias a tu curiosidad que hizo des quiso descubrir mi corazón encubierto lo que sabía es que después de encontrarte nunca volvería a ser la misma tu aprecio sincero por nuestra conversación tu penetrante minada que seguía cada uno de mis movimientos la tensión hambrienta con la que me escuchabas el deseo profundo por aprender de mí tu entrega total al momento transformaron mi sufrir lo que sabía es que los dos sucumbimos al deseo habíamos descubierto algo nuevo después de haber pasado por tantos corazones rotos y arrepentimientos lo que sabía es que habíamos encontrado y que hablábamos el mismo idioma de quien es un guerrero que no se deja vencer en la batalla lo que sabía es que me dejé llevar por malo que no sabía es que los dos teníamos la misma fuerza de dejarnos ir last poem what I didn't know what I knew was that I had fallen for you you inspired me to believe in my dreams again by showing me how you fought for yours you helped me to write again by reading me what you had just composed you made me think I had a hidden talent by your curiosity that led you to discover my heart you discovered what I knew was I would never be the same after your encounter your sincere appreciation for our conversation you're penetrating stare that tenderly followed my every expression the hungry attention of your listening your profound desire to learn from me experience me presence me hug me your complete surrender to the moment truly transformed me what I knew was that we were both taken by desire we had discovered something new after having gone through so many heartbreaks disappointments betrayals and struggles what I knew is that we spoke the same language of the warrior who does not give up in battle but what I didn't know is that we were both just as strong and just as willing to let you go Katrina originally the Katrina was called la calavera garbanzera created by famous Mexican artists guadalupe posada las garbanzeras eran personas que vendían garbanzas y con su sangre indígena pretendían ser europeos y renegaban de su propia raza las garbanzeras were people that sold garbanzas and yet with their indigenous blood they pretended to be european and denied their ancestries it's a parody of mexicans la Katrina that even though povernous surrounded the mexicans they denied their ancestry and they wanted to pretend to have a european lifestyle it was famous mexican painter Diego Rivera that baptized la Katrina and painted her in one of his famous murals next we have mexico lindo their professors have nine years presenting throughout the state of Colorado their number one goal is to help youth continue to admirate celebrate and honor the culture and tradition of los mexicanos sino las almas de los muertos van a andar penando cry for your loved ones instead celebrate them with love with color with mucha fiesta mejor canta y recuerda a los con alegría instead celebrate them with love and celebration so that their souls do not sorrow monarca esas almas de nuestros seres queridos que migran mexicans believe that it is the migrating monarch butterfly that are the returning souls to celebrate with their loved ones on november 1st and november 2nd the mix it is on the mexican and us border that the female monarch butterfly deposits its eggs and from november to march they hibernate in the forest of michoacan mexico la maniposa monarca deja sus huevesillos en las fronteras de mexico y los estados unidos y es entre noviembre y marzo cuando ellas hibernan en los pobres en los bosques de michoacan mexico a continuación tenemos a el mariachi méxico al mariachi america que tienen más de 20 años cantándole el estado de colorado con sus trajes típicos trajes de charros auténticos desde méxico a continuación mariachi america escultura es tradición day of the dead is not a costume it is a celebration it is honor it is respect it is tradition it is culture thank you so much to the longmont museum and cultural center for this 20th anniversary of dia de los muertos muchísimas gracias al museo y centro cultural de longmont por un año más de dia de los muertos the world changes quickly get the internet that moves even faster next lights gigabit fiber ties longmont together and brings the world to your door