Showcase
Mr. Hou Hong Tang, a well-known opera star in his native China, performs a scene from a popular opera that features a mourning aria sung while memorial objects for the deceased are drawn from a basket.
Ofrenda Altar and Chinese Buddhist Ancestral Altar Dedication
Workshop 2: Mexican Days of the Dead (Días de Los Muertos)
Workshop 1: Mexican Days of the Dead (Días de Los Muertos)
All Souls’ Day “Symbols, Stories and Trumpets” at Green-Wood Cemetery
Ofrenda Altar and Chinese Buddhist Ancestral Altar Dedication
11/01/08
12:00PM - 2:00PM
Mr. Hou Hong Tang, a well-known opera star in his native China, performs a scene from a popular opera that features a mourning aria sung while memorial objects for the deceased are drawn from a basket.
Come to a lively program surrounding the dedication of two altars installed at the library. One is an ofrenda, the Mexican Days of the Dead offering altar, and one is a Chinese Buddhist ancestral altar. The altars will be explained by Miguel Lopez of Don Paco Lopez Panaderia and Xiao Ya Qun of Wan Shou Funeral Home. Take a taste of pan de muerto (bread of the dead) made by Mr. Lopez’s father, Francisco. Bring an item for the Mexican altar if you like and then enjoy music from Mariachi Tapatio de Alvaro Paulino, Chinese opera performed by Mr. Tang, and Mexican danza azteca performed by Benito Bravo with his Balet Folklórico Quetzalcoatl. Click here to learn about Pan de Muerto (Bread for the Dead) Traditions at Brooklyn's Don Paco Lopez Panaderia.
WHEN: The ofrenda will be dedicated on Saturday, Nov. 1 at noon and the public is welcome to bring offerings to honor their dead on Thursday, October 30 from 3:30-5:00pm and on Nov. 1 from 10:00am- 1:00pm.
WHERE: Sunset Park Library, 5108 4th Ave. at 51st St., Brooklyn
WHEN: The ofrenda will be dedicated on Saturday, Nov. 1 at noon and the public is welcome to bring offerings to honor their dead on Thursday, October 30 from 3:30-5:00pm and on Nov. 1 from 10:00am- 1:00pm.
WHERE: Sunset Park Library, 5108 4th Ave. at 51st St., Brooklyn
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
- Mexican artists Inés Rivera and Margarita Larios (see Tuesday and Wednesday) taught the proper making and arrangement of the ofrenda.
- The Chinese Buddhist ancestral altar was made by Xiao Ya Shun, a practicing Buddhist who is also the manager of Wan Shou Funeral Home, serving the Chinese community in Brooklyn.
- Mariachi Tapatio was begun in 1983 under the leadership of Alvaro Paulino, a famed trumpet player from Puebla, Mexico, and his son Alvaro, Jr. who began his career on the violin in Brooklyn at age six.
- Mr. Hou Hong Tang, a member of the Brooklyn Chinese American Association, was a renowned opera star in China before coming to live in Brooklyn.
- Benito Bravo, a highly skilled Mexican dancer, leads his Brooklyn-based group Balet Folklórico Quetzalcoatl in their preservation and performance of danza folklórico.
Check out additional Days of the Dead events presented by our partner Mano a Mano Mexican Culture Without Borders.
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