{"id":758,"date":"2006-11-02T16:03:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-02T16:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=758"},"modified":"2006-11-02T16:03:00","modified_gmt":"2006-11-02T16:03:00","slug":"creeping-syncretic-southwestern-paganism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=758","title":{"rendered":"Creeping syncretic Southwestern Paganism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Day<\/a>The instructions from the Student Activities Board were explicit:<\/p>\n

On the top level of the altar, four candles need to be placed–signifying the four cardinal points. The light of the candle will illuminate the way for the dead upon their return. . . . <\/p>\n

All bad spirits must be whisked away and leave a clear path for the dead soul by burning in a bracero, a small burner used to cook outside. Or you can use a sahumerio to burn copal or incense. A small cross of ash is made so that the ghost will expel all its guilt when it is stepped on.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, it was time for the annual campus-wide Day of the Dead altar-building competition. Illustrated: the altar of the English Club, with Victorian writers<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I stopped by the Student Center lounge where the Spanish Department professor who mastermind the competition (and who always<\/em> features Frida Kahlo<\/a>) was putting up some final trimmings.<\/p>\n

“Looks like taxpayer-supported Paganism to me,” I said with a wink.<\/p>\n

“Oh no-o,” replied la profesora<\/em>, “it’s culture<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

“That’s what they always say,” I responded. <\/p>\n

She is right–but art and culture can often trump dogma. Where are the campus Christian conservatives in this one? I think that they are scared of the Multiculturalism Monster.<\/p>\n

Heh-heh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The instructions from the Student Activities Board were explicit: On the top level of the altar, four candles need to be placed–signifying the four cardinal points. The light of the candle will illuminate the way for the dead upon their return. . . . All bad spirits must be whisked away and leave a clear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-day-of-the-dead"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-ce","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3354,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3354","url_meta":{"origin":758,"position":0},"title":"Quick Day of the Dead Instructions\u2014And How Things Change","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Monday a notice popped up in my university email: It's time to build an altar for the Day of the Dead. (And do it in the correct, traditional manner!) Several professors of Spanish have organized an altar-building event in the student center for a number of years now. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":544,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=544","url_meta":{"origin":758,"position":1},"title":"The altar of the .\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 27, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The altar of the . . . intramural volleyball league?Depending on your persuasion, the following announcement indicates the Paganization of an American university, a celebration of \"diversity,\" a violation of the separation of church [Aztec temple?] and state, \"multiculturalism\" run amok, or good clean fun.The student activities board at a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":554,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=554","url_meta":{"origin":758,"position":2},"title":"The altar of the RomanticsABOVE:\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 3, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The altar of the RomanticsABOVE: An altar for dead military service members, erected by the Social Work Club.BELOW: The altar of the English Club, featuring Rudyard Kipling (I think), Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen and ... one of the Brontes?I was wrong in my earlier prediction. A couple of the non-traditional\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3391,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3391","url_meta":{"origin":758,"position":3},"title":"The Campus Day of the Dead, 2011","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As planned,\u00a0 I stopped by the Student Center on Wednesday to check out the Day of the Dead altars. No Vlad the Impaler altar this year! No altars to firefighters or Victorian writers either. Apparently Chicano Studies conformity was enforced, with Catholic Campus Ministries stepping in as a co-sponsor as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"Day of the Dead altar to Marilyn Monroe, CSU-Pueblo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/MarilynMonroeAltar_sm.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10987,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10987","url_meta":{"origin":758,"position":4},"title":"Building an Altar to the Dead","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\"A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Own Altar This D\u00eda de Muertos,\" from the Remezcla (\" the most influential media brand for Latino Millennials\") website. Rooted in pre-Hispanic traditions and mixed with elements of Christianity, the ofrendas \u2013 which can consist of several levels, depending on space \u2013 are a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Dia-de-muertos_Flores_Itzel.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Dia-de-muertos_Flores_Itzel.gif?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Dia-de-muertos_Flores_Itzel.gif?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":946,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=946","url_meta":{"origin":758,"position":5},"title":"Altars at the Student Center","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"As promised, three of today's altars at the state university erected for the Day of the Dead (D\u00eda de los muertos).An altar to Vlad the Impaler, also known as Dracula, from the history and art clubs. Club members admitted that it was a bit short on Roumanian content. One girl\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Day of the Dead\"","block_context":{"text":"Day of the Dead","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=day-of-the-dead"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}