SPECIAL EVENTS : Sweet Offerings for Day of the Dead

Picture a gingerbread man lying in a coffin and you’ve got the basic idea behind the sweet bread that a Santa Ana bakery will exhume from the oven for Dia de los Muertos (Spanish for Day of the Dead).

“His eyes are closed, and his hands are folded across his chest,” says Sylvia Guzman, who will help La Espiga de Oro bake pan de muerto, (literally, bread of the dead), for the Nov. 2 holiday honoring the deceased.

“We don’t want it morbid,” Guzman added with a laugh. “There won’t be little Xs on his eyelids.”

La Espiga de Oro, which actually spices up the treats with cinnamon, not ginger, has been concocting the confection annually for at least 13 years and is one of several Orange County outlets marking the Day of the Dead, an ancient Mexican tradition that’s a melding of pre-Columbian Mexican Indian and Catholic beliefs and rituals.

Both the Fullerton Museum Center and the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art will screen “La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead,” a video documentary of how the holiday is celebrated in Mexico and the United States, and allow visitors to help create an ofrenda, a key part of many observances.

An ofrenda is an altar of sorts adorned with such items as photographs and favorite foods of deceased loved ones. Local artist Lucy Ruiz has constructed a 15-foot-tall ofrenda at the museum center in Fullerton, which the public may embellish with non-perishable food or non-returnable keepsakes of the departed.

On Oct. 30 at the Bowers Museum, Genevieve Barrios-Southgate, a local instructor of Mexican culture, will lecture about Dia de los Muertos, then conduct a craft workshop for children and adults.

Workshop participants will make traditional Mexican folk crafts for an ofrenda that Barrios-Southgate will dedicate to farm workers’ leader Cesar Chavez.

Also on Oct. 30, as many as 1,000 parishioners from several Latino Catholic churches are expected to attend a holiday Mass at 2 p.m. at Holy Sepulchral, 7845 Santiago Canyon Road, Orange. (Non-parishioners are welcome.) The Mass, to be followed by Day of the Dead festivities, will be in Spanish. (714) 974-7120.

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Pan de muerto will be available in a large size that serves at least 20 for $8; the medium, which serves at least 10, is $4.50--on Oct. 30 and 31 at La Espiga de Oro bakery, 1911 S. Main St., Santa Ana. Orders not necessary. 714) 556-1100.

Visitors to the Fullerton Museum Center may add to an ofrenda today through Oct. 29. “La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead” will screen Friday and Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the center, 301 N. Pomona Ave. Vido admission is $1.50 to $2.50. Admission is waived for those adding to the ofrenda. (714) 738-6545.

Events at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art begin at 2 p.m. on Oct. 30 at the museum, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. Free. (714) 567-3600.