Galleries

Here is a gallery of some of the photos and a video from the Dia de Los Muertos Novenarios (nine nights of celebration) I’ve been attending at Olvera Street just north of downtown Los Angeles at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument. For nine nights leading up to November 2nd, there are processionals, offerings, cleansings, blessings, and the construction of altars to remember loved ones who have died. The celebrations for nine nights are put on every year by the Olvera Street Merchants Association as a way of honoring and sharing their traditions with the city.

 

My visit to Wat Thai was hampered by the cold rain and wind we were experiencing that weekend, the rain was fitting with one of the themes of water as cleansing and blessing for Songkran, but not the cold. Songkran is the Thai New Year, and in Thailand it has become a reason to have a raucous water fight in the streets, including elephants that hose down the festival goers. That wasn’t going to happen in North Hollywood, but there were some beautiful performances, albeit in a cramped little hall instead of on the large outdoor stage that was set up and unused due to the bad weather. All of my photos from the day were taken outdoors in between periods of rain. The temple grounds were bought in 1970 and the temple consecrated and its doors opened to the community in 1972 and has seen its membership grow with Los Angeles.