On Saturday, November 1st, the marshfront grounds of Beaufort Town Center will overflow with art, activity and music.
The Beaufort International Chalk Festival is free family fun, from 10am to 5pm.
The festival includes a big streetpainting competition, live music, an art market, more free activities for kids, street performers, and and artistic representation of a Day of the Dead ceremony. The Altar will be dedicated to the Latino soldiers who’ve lost their lives in Iraq.
The Hispanic tradition of the Day of the Dead and All Saints Day is when believers prepare an altar in honor of relatives who have passed away in hope that their souls will come home and be able to enjoy those earthly goods that made them happy when they were alive. It is a Catholic tradition, and it did not begin in the pre-Hispanic world.
The altar of the Dead is generally used in Mexico and other Latin American countries such as Argentina, Chile and Peru and even in some places in Italy. This ritual was invented in the 10th century in France by the Cluny’s Abbot, who decided to reinstate the celebration of remembering the Maccabaeus, a Jewish family recognized as martyrs in the Catholic calendar of saints’ days on November 2nd.
The free chalk festival is presented by the Arts Council of Beaufort County, and details are online at www.beaufortcountyarts.com .
