Museum will celebrate Día de los Muertos (Hispanic Day of the Dead), Nov. 1
JONESBORO – Arkansas State University Museum will hold its annual celebration of Día de los Muertos, the Hispanic Day of the Dead, on Friday, Nov. 1, from 5–7 p.m. ASU Museum is located at 320 University Loop.
Día de los Muertos, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Museum’s atrium and main gallery. Visitors in costume will receive 10 percent off purchases in the ASU Museum Gift Shop.
Family friendly activities will include face painting, assembling skeleton floor puzzles, making paper flowers and sombreros , trick-or-treating through the Museum's Old Town Arkansas, and playing a fun (not scary!) skeleton game.
A live shadow-puppet performance featuring “The Dead Family Diaz,” written by P. J. Bracegirdle, will begin at 6 p.m.
Guests of all ages will enjoy traditional Día de los Muertos decorations, refreshments and live music. Members of the Hispanic community will build an altar in the Museum to commemorate deceased ancestors with traditional flowers, candles, and treats.
Refreshments will be traditional Día de los Muertos fare, including pan de muerto (bread of the dead), horchata (a delicious rice milk beverage), mango punch, and hibiscus tea, as well as bite-sized tamales from Hispanic Community Services, Inc. of Jonesboro (http://www.jhcsi.org/).
Strolling troubadour Ricardo Puello will perform Mexican and Latin-American favorites on guitar.
In conjunction with the Día de los Muertos celebration, ASU Museum will host “El Caballo: The Horse in Mexican Folk Art.” This exhibit opens Wednesday, Oct. 23, and will remain on view until Nov. 27. Each work in the exhibition focuses on the horse and related subjects, which have long attracted the attention of Mexican folk artists.
“El Caballo” is generously funded by ExhibitsUSA and Mid-America Arts Alliance.
The public is invited to join the ASU Museum staff and visitors from varied backgrounds for an evening of fun and festivities, according to Jill Kary, curator of education. For more details interested individuals may contact Kary, jkary@astate.edu or (870) 972-2074.
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