Beginning October 1, 2020 through November 6, 2020 we will be celebrating and honoring Dia De Los Muertos, as ARTners has been invited to participate by Sol Collective. Normally we would celebrate all together in a large festival “Souls of The City” in Old Sacramento, however due to COVID-19 social distancing restrictions we cannot gather, so we have been asked to decorate a store front in Old Sacramento. ARTners has invited Azteca dance group Kalpulli Xihuacoatl to be a part of this honoring “Las Capitanes.” Our store front is located at 202 K Street, Old Sacramento, and we invite you all out to see it’s beauty. Below is our story:
Las Capitanes
This is an honoring of our families, friends and womanhood. 3 stories highlighting the generations of leadership by existence, journeys and actions. If it is folklore to be said, “it’s a man’s world”, then how did the other half of the species fit into the equalization equation? In the most democracy country in the world today in the year 2020, there is still evidence of inequality BUT that’s the challenge! It always has been…
STORY (mannequin)
Not to be identified as one but ‘the challenge’ that has been met and achieved for centuries and still will continue. If men (in our developing past) are the ones who were to provide then who was left to attend and when the men didn’t return who was left to maintain. Sometimes it wasn’t a responsibility to take away but a choice, 99% the same choice isn’t an option when life’s reflection of tolerance also isn’t the same. Who maintains and who remains. “The heart of a woman is as vast as the sea combined with motherhood, it extends to the stars.”
STORY (photographs of elders)
Just generations ago our women ancestors had the challenge in their times. Our grandmothers were spirited with life operating in life with little rights, little formal education and limited opportunities from Mexico to Texas, the year is 1940. Our mothers met ‘the challenge’ as they operated in standard American life facing the same setbacks for advancement, often as head of household. Fighting for rights by just living and doing the same actions has their male counterparts but acknowledged as less. Understood this was how it was to be, approximately 15 years earlier, The United States of America passed the civil rights act, the year is 1978.
STORY (painting & photos of Irene)
Today we are also honoring La Capitana, Irene Adame was born and raised in Sacramento, CA. She completed her journey here on earth on November 6, 2017, at the young age of 59. She was a very caring, loving, strong and passionate woman. She became Captain and founder of the traditional Aztec dance group Kalpulli Xihuacoatl in 1996. For over two decades she contributed harmony, culture and community development in Sacramento. Her legacy lives on through generations of Aztec dancers under her guidance and teachings. Her mission is to provide a safe place for those in need. She was a wonderful woman, mother, grandmother, sister, daughter, Yaya to all the children, a true and loyal friend. Her love is the glue that keeps us together. Today we honor all Las Capitanes!! 
