About 3,000 turn out for Day of the Dead observance at Modesto-area cemetery
Mireyah Fragua, 3, lost grandfather Lucas Solis Yañez to a traffic collision May 1. Exactly six months later, she placed his image on a Day of the Dead altar.
Mireyah was among about 3,000 people who turned out Saturday at Lakewood Funeral Home and Memorial Park. The event just north of Hughson featured live music, dance, food, a craft fair, games and a Mass.
The altar bore hundreds of photos and other images of deceased loved ones, as did the classic cars on display. Tributes to people who died at various ages sat amid flowers, candles and Day of the Dead skeletons.
Yañez was 71 when he was killed while driving home on Highway 132 from his trucking job at the Safeway distribution center in Tracy. His daughter, Cathy Bedoy-Duenas, helped niece Mireyah place the illustration.
“She misses her Papi — that’s what she called him,” her aunt said. Mireyah has her own small altar for him at home, where she places the traditional fruit.
Yañez was buried at Lakewood. His obituary said he was born in 1953 in Ocuituco, Morelos, Mexico. He served in that nation’s military before immigrating to the United States. He worked in turkey processing and later became a truck driver.
Lakewood launched the Day of the Dead event in 2019 and has missed only one year, due to COVID-19, General Manager Gloria Mason said. She added that about 3,000 people turned out last year as well.
Some of them drove around the spacious grounds to pay quiet visits to graves. Back at the event, the amplified music showed that this day is about living as well as death.
Two bands played: Marianchi La Union and Quinta Edicion. Recorded music accompanied dances by Ballet Folklorico and Danza Azteca troupes.
Nov. 1 is All Saints Day in the Christian calendar, also known as All Hallows. That gave rise to Halloween the day before. Nov. 2 is All Souls Day, also part of the observance.
