1 Día de Muertos-Always Adapting, Never Changing. Featuring Bárbara Rodríguez-González

Chapter One

Día de Muertos; Always Adapting, Never Changing. Featuring Bárbara Rodríguez-González

Introduction

Sara: It’s time for the ofrenda podcast! A series of special episodes, dedicated to learning more about the roots and futures of the ofrenda practice and the heart of Día de Muertos practices that continue throughout year after year. Celebrations are planned for Seattle Center, Beacon Hill, Burien, the White Center, Tacoma, and places all throughout the United States and Mexico. In our episode, we explore the theme of COVID and Día de los Muertos. My name Sara Habibi, and we are your hosts for the next hour! We are a team of University of Washington students enrolled in a Gender, Women, and Sexuality studies course called Latina Cultural Production, and we produced this episode in partnership with KVRU 105.7 community radio and the Women Who Rock! – Making scenes, building communities collective. We will be talking with Bárbara Rodriguez and now our show!

Alondra: Hey Lucia!

Lucia: Hi Alondra! How are you doing?

Alondra: I’m doing good! How are you doing?

Lucia: Good! I’m really excited to hear about the interview with Bárbara!

Alondra: Yeah, I’m really excited too! I’m really excited to unpack everything that has to do with Día de Los Muertos and ofrendas as a practice of cultural resilience! I grew up in a small town, so I didn’t really have a lot of experience with Día de Los Muertos, did you?

Lucia: No, I didn’t really! My dad is from Mexico and my mom is from here. And I really had a hard time finding that cultural identity and feeling like I can practice an ofrenda, so I’m curious what Bárbara has to say about, you know, how we can bring that into our own culture nowadays? Cause I’ve always been lost about it. I’ve heard about my dad speaking about ofrendas and Día de Los Muertos in Mexico, but I’ve never been able to have that experience for myself. Have you had any experiences with it? Or have you just learned about it?

Alondra: So, the best I know about Día de Los Muertos is actually through this class, Latina Cultural Production, but aside from that, growing up, I was not really exposed to the celebration as much as I wish I was. My parents are very into our culture and heritage, but I just feel like with assimilation throughout the years, they have maybe lost touch with the holi

day. Which is why we kind of just spend more time celebrating Halloween as opposed to Día de Los Muertos on November 2nd. But what I know now, I feel like I feel a lot more connected with the holiday than I feel like I could have before. I feel really thankful knowing that I was able to learn about it in my young adult life. Because I feel like it makes it so much more personal for me, especially knowing that my parents personally immigrated from Mexico, so they were around my age when they first came here, so just knowing that it was probably around the time that they stopped celebrating Día de Los Muertos. So I guess it makes it that much more personal to continue celebrating, even though there was a point in time in my parents’ or family’s lineage where we didn’t celebrate the holiday.

Lucia: That’s totally awesome! Yeah, my dad immigrated to the U.S. around my age too, so I really connect with you on that and recognizing that we can take back that culture and bring it into the U.S. and not just make it a ‘Mexico thing’, right? Yeah, I really appreciate learning this in this class and feeling like I have the right to this practice and I can rejuvenate it into my own lifestyle. I think it’s really beautiful. And I’m really curious to see what Bárbara is going to connect into nowadays and how we can embrace that culture even more? Which also kind of leads me to what we talked about in class is social death, do you want to explain that a little bit?

Alondra: Yeah, of course! So social death is essentially death in a social setting and it applies to people who are typically, I would say marginalized. They can experience social death in various ways. For example, if you are undocumented, you have to experience life through the lens of an undocumented person, so you spend a lot of time hiding behind certain things. You maybe aren’t as vocal in the community out of fear due to deportation. So it can apply to a lot of aspects of one’s life and it can be very overwhelming, which is why it is called a social death. And I’m also interested to

see how social death applies to Día de Los Muertos in the sense that, like I mentioned, a lot of people feel the need to assimilate to American culture. Especially, if you are someone immigrating to the U.S. So I feel like going ahead with that and just taking it as a new generation, maybe we could say gen ‘z’ and making so that not just Mexicans can celebrate Día de Los Muertos, but other people too as well can celebrate this beautiful holiday. I feel like allowing culture to thrive opens a door for people who may be couldn’t jump-start this cultural revolution on their own. So I guess it’s a form of being an ally and allowing people to not experience social death. Do you have anything you want to add?

Lucia: Right, yeah, that’s beautiful what you have to say. And I am really very curious how Bárbara is going to mention about social death, whether that be during the COVID-19 pandemic, as we are facing right now, and just how art can possibly help us through these tough times of social death, of a pandemic, of systems constantly being against marginalized groups? I think with that, I’m ready to hear your guys’ interview!

Alondra: Okay, let’s get right into it then!

Lucia: Alright! Here we go!

Guest Bio

Bárbara Rodríguez-González is an Artistic Director at the Dia de Muertos Festival locat

ed in Seattle. She believes in the importance of the ancient roots of the ofrenda tradition, bridging communities together, and the importance of teaching future generations (merging worlds and times, keeping the tradition alive).

Production Team

Dayanara Vergara, Story Theme Producer

Osman Torres, Sounds Producer/Audio Management

Alondra Torres, On-Air Host

Sara Habibi, On-Air Host

Lucia Flores-Wiseman, Director/Quality Producer

Description & Theme

Social death is a term used to describe ways in which individuals within minority communities are often treated as if they are not important. Our team believes that the theme of our podcast, “Día de Muertos; Always Adapting, Never Changing,” has the idea of restorative resilience through Bárbara Rodríguez-González art medium and expertise on Ofrendas. We dive deeper into how exactly Ofrendas form a community and bring people together with a focus on the Covid-19 impact since it has taken us so far away from each other. We and Bárbara Rodríguez-González believe that through the act of community, we can fight against social death and isolation.

Interview

Alondra: Hello Bárbara, we are so excited to have you here with us today.

Bárbara: Thank you, it’s a pleasure to meet here with you today!

Alondra: Yeah, thank you. Would you first like to start off with telling us who you are and what you do?

Bárbara: I would love to. Once again, thank you for having me over. As of today, representing the committee for Día de Muertos Festival at Seattle Center festival. I’m the artistic director for the festival. It’s a pleasure to be here sharing about traditions and culture with you guys.

Alondra: Yeah thank you so much. To start us off, what got you involved in the Dia De Los Muertos yearly celebrations that are held here in Seattle?

Bárbara: Great question! Personally, it’s my favorite celebration. Being Mexican, I grew up with that tradition of setting up an altar. Doing every single step that we do for the celebration to honor our beloved, you know, family members or friends that have passed away. But again, you know, that was in Mexico so when I came to the states and I had the opportunity to join this amazing team, I didn’t hesitate to become a part of the team. Because I also wanted to continue the tradition with my family in general, my kids, my parents, my family at large. This is what makes me happy, to feel connected with my traditions.

Alondra: Yeah, a frequent thing that I see coming time and time again from local community members in the Seattle area is that things are much different now versus back then and there’s like a lot more conversations happening, which is nice to see but before it was a little more taboo in terms of like integrating your cultural background in our day to day lives. Do you see a difference between then and now?

Bárbara: Yes, definitely you can see the difference. I think now, the times that we are living, we are a little bit more open-minded. A little bit more respectful of the different cultures and traditions that not just us, but other people have. And I believe that as a community we have come closer to the fact that we are a melting pot and that is what makes us beautiful. And to continue learning from each other it’s what’s going to continue helping us just to grow. Definitely, you can see as of this celebration, you can see more people talking about it, you can see more marketing about it, you can see, just, in general, you can see it everywhere now versus back in the day, maybe twenty years ago. But I truly believe that it’s because of that. It’s because we are a bit more open-minded of how others live, celebrate the richness of their culture.

Alondra: Yeah, so obviously culture does play a lot into making us who we are, so do you think that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected communities specifically the Latinx community with how we congregate and how we find community, specifically with the Día de Los Muertos celebration, typically an event where we all get together and celebrate?

Bárbara: Absolutely! Absolutely, has changed a lot. We as, you know,  for the festival we were used to seeing over the course of two days, thousands of people coming to celebrate with us and to learn. Not just from the Mexican or the Mexican American community, but community in general from the Pacific Northwest. And last year was our first time that we had to do it virtual because of COVID. And we missed that, we missed that connection face to face, hearing people talking to us about how it has changed their life, attending the festival or even sharing stories with us about how they celebrate from different states in the country, whether it’s in Mexico or here. So yeah, that connection, face to face, looking at the eye, and just you know, dancing, singing, or whatever activities that were doing, the community is missing it and of course we are too. This year, because of COVID, as you mentioned, we were thinking what could we do to just, we know we are not going back to normal because there is no normal anymore. This is the new reality right. But we were really thinking what could we do to, to continue that connection, continue being that bridge for the future generations, for our community. We decided that without having to put our community at risk, that the best we could is to, to honor this year as showcasing more of the altars. Because you can still come and see it, observe, feel it, and all these sentiments that come to mind. And maybe, you know, few groups of people maybe not the same amount of people that we usually get at the festival. But with the same impact and even more this time because of, our community has been one of the ones that has been hit really hard with losing people because of COVID. And like I said, you know, the altars are very important it’s one of the most important traditions for this celebration. Altars are beautiful creations constructed with love and care from every single person or organization that is participating. Just, you know, the color, the smell it’s definitely important for us to continue that connection with the community.

Alondra: Yeah for sure, COVID-19 did bring a lot of grief and mourning for a lot of people, not just necessarily the Latinx community but also just the whole world really. Do you think el Dia de Los Muertos has opened the door to some people who have maybe never been exposed to the celebration and has maybe changed their perspective on how to mourn especially now?

Bárbara: Yes! Yes, definitely. We have had feedback from different cultures and different community members that either saw the video last year or have been at the festivals in the past for the first time. And definitely changed their perspective, a lot of people look at death as something they don’t even want to talk about. We look at it as a continuation. This is just a transition, life continues after this. In a different way of course, but it does continue, we believe that it does continue and that’s why we celebrate it. I can share with you from the past, a family that knew that the father was going to pass, and they were not Mexican, but they learned about our tradition and they started bringing their kids to the festival; participating in the workshops. And in a way, it was how the dad wished to let the kids know that he was no longer going to be here, but he was still going to be here in their heart. And so it definitely has changed people’s lives, you know, from the Mexican community we tend to be known for our happiness, joyness, and that’s contagious. And yes, it hurts when we lose our beloved ones. But again this is just to, to give us the strength to continue because it is just a transition.

Sara: You’re listening to KVRU 105.7 FM, a low-power FM station directed by members of the community. Brought up in Southeast Seattle, KVRU 105.7 FM provides a platform to share stories, discuss issues and empower listeners to create a more credible and just society.

Alondra: Yeah, something that I have been able to learn recently through my Latina cultural production class is actually that death is not a terrible thing but it’s a new beginning. It’s a new way to celebrate someone and obviously never forgetting what they meant to you in this life is really important so it could help them in the next life.

Bárbara: Yes! Yes.

Alondra: You mentioned earlier about the alters and the ofrendas, leading more into that do you believe that ofrendas are a good practice remembrance, resistance, and restoration, if so, what makes the ofrenda a good practice for that?

Bárbara: To answer the question, yes I do believe. So we have our traditional altars right? But what is it really? It’s anything you would like to offer from your heart. It doesn’t have to be a specific way of doing it. It’s basically how you want to remember and how you want to honor your beloved family members, friends, whoever you have lost. So, you can do that every day, it doesn’t have to be the day of death it doesn’t have to be el día de Los Muertos or día de Muertos. I think we do that every single day. As you cook for a meal for someone you love. As you call someone. You know, anything you offer from your heart. But when you look at the altars and you look you know whenever someone builds one and the details that go into it you know? The food that the person used to like, the smells. The altar has some important elements that have meaning for the tradition. As in the flowers, for instance, the flor of cempasúchil. It’s to be representative of the smell of the flower guiding the spirits back to the altar. To enjoy whatever they like for that one day when they come to visit. But again, doing an altar it’s something that comes from your heart and you can do that every single day. Having this special day to represent that, to actually show and project to others to understand, it’s our goal. But most important is that for anyone to know that ofrenda has a special meaning for every single one of us. And it’s up to you how you want to offer your love to your beloved ones.

Alondra: Yeah and I think you make a really great point, I think being able to celebrate those who have passed, maybe not just one day but continually throughout the year is what makes Día de Los Muertos so much more beautiful because you are possibly going through this throughout the year but once you come together you see that there are many people mourning and going through your same situation and I think it ties back to the community that these celebrations bring.

Bárbara: Yeah, and great point that you mentioned, it’s that we see that someone is going through a rough time. But their soul is with someone that has it worse than us. And we can be a support for them.

Alondra: Yeah for sure, for the future, what are your aspirations for the ofrenda and Día de Los Muertos as a whole for those in Seattle and those surrounding the metropolitan area?

Bárbara: Wow, that’s a great question. Looking forward, I can’t wait to have the festival in person again! Where we can see everything that we have to offer in our community. From the performers, from the workshops, from the community at large, everyone participating. Looking forward, it would be nice to also connect with other cultures, as to how they celebrate that or what kind of traditions they have for when someone passes. So I see the festival getting bigger and bigger. I see the future generations participating more, voicing their opinions, sharing their experiences with us, also asking questions. These collaborations like you and your team and I talking right now just make me so happy makes my heart so happy! That you guys are learning, you are willing to continue sharing what we do. But yeah, definitely I see it as a huge celebration. You know we have Seattle center we have the festival at the arboretum but we know at Seattle center, it’s a huge place, different buildings, different activities. So hopefully one day it will be not just one weekend, maybe a celebration that we continue throughout the year; inspiring others, other communities and most important for us is inspiring the future generations. Because they are the ones sometimes being away from home, wherever home is, you lose a little bit of the traditions because you want to assimilate to where you live – and that’s great, not judging that part, but also there’s ways to continue your culture, your traditions with the rest of the community.

Alondra: Yeah you made a point of wanting to inspire a lot of younger generations and as someone who hasn’t really had an opportunity to celebrate Dia De Los Muertos as I am also Mexican, my parents immigrated here, that wasn’t really something that we typically spotlighted. We had Halloween already so there wasn’t as much of a need. You, your work, and other community members have inspired me to create my own ofrenda and I think there’s beauty in that as traditions sometimes fade out, but people will always find a way to bring them back. That speaks on the resilience of Mexican people and Latinos all over that we will never fade out in a way.

Bárbara: Hahaha! SO beautifully said! I love that, thank you so much for sharing that, it really means a lot to us! I’m looking forward to see your ofrenda, looking forward to see more of you guys participating with us. Definitely having an altar set at the Seattle Center grounds and just continue. But thank you, thank you for sharing that, it really touches our hearts. Appreciate that.

Alondra: Yeah, yeah thank you. So, I just wanted to close us off with a last question going back to the COVID-19 pandemic. What has the pandemic shown us about community and cultural practice that can help guide us forward?

Bárbara: That communication is very important, education is very important. We need to take the time to educate ourselves so that we can understand the problem, it might seem like a small problem, but in reality, when it came to covid, it was a huge problem for us as a community. Not having enough information when it comes to what it is, and how it affects, and you know the vaccines and there’s still a lot of people in our community that are still debating. But the key here or in any other topic, it’s taking the time to listen, taking the time to learn, to learn how to communicate so that we can move forward. Moving forward with as many community members as we can. We need to include them in what’s happening. Once you do that, your community is way stronger.

Alondra: Yeah, strength in numbers for sure making sure that everyone has the same opportunities is really important to highlight. Thank you so much for taking the time, we’re just about at the end here. Is there anything else you want to add?

Bárbara: Just invite every single of your listeners, every single one of your classmates to come and join us and come and visit. Of course, we have to take all of the precautions because of covid. We are thinking of every single one of us and we are going to follow all of the protocols to protect our community. So please come and see us for all of the events that we have! You can reach us at https://diademuertosseattle.org/es/ for future events or any information that you would like to find out more about us. Thank you for this opportunity to share with your community!

Alondra: No thank you, the wonderful Bárbara Rodriguez. So thank you.

Bárbara: Gracias, Alondra!

Review New Insights on Theme:

Lucia: Wow, that was a beautiful interview! How did you feel about that? What was your favorite thing, interviewing Bárbara?

Alondra: I love talking to Bárbara! She was full of great knowledge, insightful, everything about her was so great. I really appreciated the work that she does for the community here in the Seattle/Metropolitan area. But just a larger scale, yeah, she’s making an impact for people who may be not local to Seattle. Like I mentioned, I’m from the other side of the state, so I definitely am not anywhere near from here and I feel like I could definitely relate to every to everything she mentioned.

Lucia: Totally, totally. Yeah, I really liked what she had to say and I appreciate her saying that this practice of the ofrenda of Día de Muertos, it’s not only for the Latino community, but it’s also for anyone; anyone from any country, grown-up anywhere with any religion. I think it’s really important to talk about death. As we know in the Western society, we don’t really talk about it as much. The U.S., we always have this fast-paced life and we don’t look at death as an opportunity to possibly an afterlife. And we learn that from science, energy never goes away, we are constantly vibrating, and death is not an ending, it’s a beginning. And so, with that being said, I think it’s important that we acknowledge that in the ofrenda, we put aspects of earth, of our wind, fire, water, into this ofrenda and it guides these souls. So whether that be the flowers, the marigolds that grow from the ground, or the candle that lights up from the fire, or the drinks that they used to love and consume, or the breath from their laughter. As we are celebrating someone’s life and acknowledging that. I think it’s just a beautiful practice and you know, we can share it with so many other people. And this might be, hopefully, a new turn in looking at what death can mean for us. Yeah, do you have any thoughts on that?

Alondra: Yeah! I think one final point to really hone in is that death is really not an end, it is a new beginning and in all reality there’s just comfort in death, there’s comfort in knowing that one thing in life is guaranteed and that is, we all end up dying one day and it’s your choice in how you choose to perceive that event in your life. And if you choose to find comfort in that knowing that this person or people in your life are still with you in spirit, maybe not physically. I think there’s great resilience in that practice as well. Continuing on with maintaining ‘la Raza as people say, a lot of what Día de los Muertos is sought to do is fight against the colonial practices that have been embedded into Latin American culture. Making the fact that the holiday is still celebrated now even after centuries of colonization and oppression of marginalized, especially indigenous people. It speaks a lot to what this holiday has to offer and what Latinx people have to bring to the table in terms of uplifting society as a whole.

Lucia: Totally, yeah beautifully said. Awesome. Well thanks so much for doing that interview with Bárbara and I hope that we can do this again sometime.

Alondra: Yeah, okay, thanks for listening and I’ll see you soon!

Lucia: Alright, bye!

Alondra: Bye!

Outro:

Sara: Thank you for listening! The ofrenda podcast is a collaboration between KVRU 105.7 FM radio students of the UW Gender, Women, and Sexualities studies class called Latina Cultural Production taught by Michelle Habell-Pallán. Highlighting heritage, using our voices, social justice in times of COVID-19 and the Women Who Rock, making scenes, building communities collective. We would like to thank our guest, Bárbara Rodríguez-González. Friends and family may hear this by visiting the KVRU 105.7’s website. Special thanks to the band, Quetzal, for our team music title: “Barrio Healer”. Look out for Día de Muertos events in the fall in the South Seattle and online and check out Highline heritage using our voices, social justice in times of COVID-19 series for questions, email ofrendapodcast@gmail.com.

Interview Date: October 2021