Menifee celebrates All Souls Day

For those who missed out, it’s not too late to celebrate All Souls Day/ Day of the Dead in Southwest Riverside.

During the All Souls Day/Day of the Dead Remembrance Celebration, Mariachis play traditional music as they follow a procession lead by Rev. Antonio Das Neves of Saint Vincent Catholic Church. (Courtesy photo)

Miller-Jones Mortuary and Menifee Valley Memorial Park will host the seventh annual All Souls/Day of the Dead Remembrance Celebration on Nov. 7 at Menifee Valley Memorial Park, 26700 Murrieta Rd. in Sun City.

Celebrations begin at 10:30 a.m. with a memorial service and procession lead by Rev. Antonio Das Neves of Saint Vincent Catholic Church.

“This celebration has always been the Father’s idea,” said Charlotte Jones of Miller-Jones Mortuary. “It’s been wonderful to be able to keep the cultural nature going for all these years.”

This year’s event will begin with a procession at the main gates of the memorial park to the Remembrance Celebration service, where the names of loved ones buried this year at Menifee Valley Memorial Park will be read. Following the service, balloons with the names of loved ones will be released in their memory.

“So many are really appreciative of this event,” Jones said. “It gives families an opportunity to come together and celebrate the lives of loved ones they have lost.”

Jones said the event is usually held on the weekend of All Souls Day, which is Nov. 2, but since Halloween fell on the same weekend, she said the celebration was not fitting for that time. Jones still expects a good turnout for this year’s event.

Festivities will include paper mask and sugar skull decorating, the making of tissue paper flowers, face painting, music from Los Halcones de Jalisco and performances by Folklorico dancers.  A luncheon of traditional foods including pan de muerto, bread of the dead, will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The celebration includes decorating sugar skull masks along with other activities.

All Souls Day/Day of the Dead Remembrance Celebration is a free event and is open to community members wishing to celebrate and honor their loved ones lives.

Tags: All Soul's Day, Day of the Dead, Folklorico, Los Halcones de Jalisco, Menifee, Menifee Valley Memorial Park, Miller-Jones Mortuary, Rev. Antonio Das Neves, Saint Vincent Catholic Church, SWRNN, Yazmin Alvarez

This entry was posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.