Dia de los Muertos

Almost a month later, I am posting photos from the spectacular Dia de los Muertos festival at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  Altars galore, but also Aztec dancing, face paint, paper mache skeletons, sugar skulls, food, flowers, bones.

 

Crossing the river.

En honor de mujeres artistas.

Notes from the Getty

Visited the Getty today with my mama, it was the first time I've seen it all socked in by fog and rain---such a different place.  Instead of a beeline to the changing exhibition halls, I veered left from the main entrance and spent most of my time looking at painted Italian altarpieces.  Below are some of my favorites, with brief descriptions.

The Chiarito Tabernacle

Pacino di Bonaguida, 1340s, Italy

Chiarito del Voglia had this work created to commemorate his own spiritual experiences, inserting 

drawings of himself with those depicting the trials of Jesus. 

  The Virgin Mary with Saints Thomas Aquinas and Paul

Bernardo Daddi, c. 1330, Italy

References the stories of images of the Virgin coming to life for her devotees.

The Coronation of the Virgin with Saints Cenni di Francesco di Ser Cenni

1390s, Italy

Rainbow devils! (Closeup from bottom left.)

Sanctuary!

I thought the unlocked church was a thing of the past, but when exploring La Iglesia Catolica Hispana de San Judas Tadeo Apostol, the gate of the compound was left open and the grounds unattended for me to wander through and take photographs.  Initially attracted by the front bell-altar to San Judas Tadeo, upon entering I found smaller quasi-altars and iconography.

San Judas Tadeo, Saint Jude, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. In the Roman Catholic Church, he is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes. His attribute is a club, and he is often shown with a flame around his head representing his presence at Pentecost, where the apostles received the Holy Spirit. San Judas is also often depicted holding an image of Jesus.

Fake Out!

Riding the bus from Little Armenia to Echo Park, I glimpsed a telephone pole sprouting flowers in varying stages of decay.  Returning later to examine what I thought was an impromptu memorial (not uncommon in Los Angeles) I found the flowers to be lashed to the pole with teal and purple yarn.  There were no photos, notes, or memorabilia attached, and so I began to ask passersby if they knew what the flowers were for, or rather, "Did something happen here?"  The flower pole was outside of the Ronin Gallery, and one woman who worked a few shops down suggested that it was probably the galleristas who were responsible.  A man who came outside a neighboring business, apparently a soap manufacturer, confirmed that the gallery was responsible for the yarn and the soap shop added the flowers.  Though "tricked" by the inspired decorations of artists and soapmakers, I still figure the fake-out should be included  in my efforts to document altars and altar-like memorials in the city.

Jankster and the "Fake Out"

Cucumber Pod!

Thailand Plaza

Today I visited the Thailand Plaza at 5311 Hollywood Boulevard, which I discovered through the Folk Art Everywhere initiative of the Craft and Folk Art Museum.  I asked the young woman in the restaurant upstairs if she could tell me about the altar.  Not knowing the name of the deity represented, she took me downstairs and outside, bowed her head with prayer-hands to the altar, and then asked the parking attendant.  He informed us that the statue is the Hindi deity Brahma.  The woman asked if I'd like to make a wish, and explained that I could tell the Brahma anything, but should include my name and address when asking for help with a problem.  She gave me ten sticks of incense, showed me how to bow in prayer three times at the back of the altar, and told me to place my incense in the front when finished.   

 

Consulting the Dictionary: Altar Vs. Shrine

Altar: an elevated place or structure, as a mound or platform, at which religious rites are performed or on which sacrifices are offered to gods, ancestors, etc.

...from L. altare  (pl. altaria ), probably originally meaning "burnt offerings" (cf. L. adolere  "to worship, to offer sacrifice, to honor by burning sacrifices to"), but infl. by L. altus  "high." 


Shrine: any structure or place consecrated or devoted to some saint, holy person, or deity, as an altar, chapel, church, or temple.

...from O.E. scrin  "ark of the covenant, case for relics," from L. scrinium  "case or box for keeping papers," of unknown origin.