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Celebrate the Day of the Dead with marionettes along the Willamette River

Celebrate the Day of the Dead with marionettes along the Willamette River

Hundreds will gather Saturday night in Cathedral Park for the fourth year Portland’s All Souls River Procession.

This free, all-ages celebration includes masks, puppets and ritual remembrances of the dead. Money Searsone of the three founders of the event, described it as a “theatrical, ritualistic, exciting artistic experience”.

It coincides with All Souls Day, but Sears said, “I don’t think it has any particular religious or spiritual content. I want people to feel welcome to bring their culture.”

All Souls River Procession is organized by a group of artists Wild roots. The event will feature at least seven large puppets, including a “bone mother” and a 22-foot illuminated water dragon.

“We all have roots that go back to wild lands and celebrate a connection with nature or nature spirits,” Sears said. “Many of us would have had ancestors who would have had different festivals that might have used masks, puppets, precision and certain types of theatrical performance.

“It still happens in some parts of the world, but we’ve pretty much lost it in most parts of the United States, with the notable exception, of course, of the carnival culture of New Orleans.”

The first All Souls’ Procession in Portland took place in 2021, when the world was still reeling from the pandemic and mourning those who died from it. The inaugural procession consisted of only a few dozen people, but every year their number grew.

Sears expects several hundred participants this weekend, depending on the weather, including about 60 people in character or ritual roles.

The public is invited to participate not only as an audience but also as an active participant. Participants are asked to bring their own costumes, rattles, drums, masks and lanterns (or any light source as parts of the track are dark). Organizers also suggest bringing a blanket or something to sit on for the riverside ritual.

Suggested costume themes: “Light and Darkness, Threshold, Ancestors, Seeds, Autumn, Nature and Connection to Place.”

The event begins at 5:00 p.m. in the indoor public pavilion at the address of the street Green hectares8940 N. Bradford St., an incubator for small businesses and artists. This is a time for participants to add photos or flowers to the community altar and write the names of their dead in the Book of Souls.

Ceremonies begin at 5:30 p.m. with dancing, storytelling and audience participation. The procession heads through Cathedral Park at 6 p.m., following a path of about half a mile.

Under St. John’s Bridge over the river, messages to the dead are burned. The procession is led by the Portland Samba Band Block Alegriathen it’s back to Green Acres for a dance party that lasts until midnight.

Parking is by the boat ramp in Cathedral Park. Find more member information online at pdxallsouls.org.

— Samantha Swindler features The Oregonian/OregonLive and This is Oregon. Contact her at [email protected].

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