Dia De Los Muertos Celebration

On any given night, dozens of savory homemade custom pizzas fly out the doors of Arizmendi Bakery located on San Pablo Avenue in Emeryville. Known as a vegetarian hotspot — there is no meat on the menu — the bakery is also making a name for itself as the place to go for holiday specialties.

Recently, sugar cube skulls were offered to customers to decorate with yellow, green and red frosting for Day of the Dead festivities. Additions to the menu included Pan de Muertos (Bread of the Dead) a traditional bread prepared every year between Oct. 31 and  Nov. 2.  For Christmas holidays the worker-owned cooperative is providing the ingredients for customers to come in and make gingerbread houses, a personal tradition Linda Kallenberger, worker and owner, remembers doing as a child.

“It’s really fun to share something meaningful with the community,” said Kallenberger.  Arizmendi worker Michelle Uribe and Kallenberger said the latest Dia de los Muertos celebration has really brought the bakery closer to community. The event featured free tamales, beans, chili and pizza to customers in celebration of the special holiday. There was even an altar set up in the bakery.

“We felt the altar could be a unifying, community-building tool,” said Uribe. This is the second time Arizmendi celebrated a Dia de los Muertos event.

The Day of the Dead or Día de los Muertos is an annual celebration mixing indigenous Indian practices with Mexican traditions. It is a time when family and friends gather to pray for and remember loved ones who have passed. Although the ritual has since been merged with Catholic theology, it still maintains the basic principles of Aztec rituals, such as the use of skulls and traditional dance. Traditions include building private altars honoring the dead and decorating them with sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed.

Uribe recalls the Dia de los Muertos party last year being smaller.  This year, Arizmendi staff decided to open it up to the community, with a larger altar, music, food and a ritual to bless the bakery and honor those that passed. Community residents attending were offered space at the altar to place pictures and mementos of a deceased loved one.

(Check out the photos from the recent Dia de los Muertos Celebration!

“We decided to give the event more legitimacy by having a traditional ceremony,”  said Uribe. She hopes that other businesses around the neighborhood will want to partner up to make this an even bigger community event next year.

After the food offering, a dancer from Cuauhtonal Aztec Dance group performed two ritual dances with drums and special prayers. “This is an opportunity to ask for what we want and to be grateful for everything that gives us life,” said Hector Ranger, a Nahui organizer, as he burned copal and blessed the space. Dressed in traditional costume, Roberto Lazcano performed two Aztec dances, Guerrero (Warrior) and Paloma (Dove) dance. “The Dove Dance represents life’s strength and sensibility while the warrior dance celebrates our fight for life,” Lazcano said.

The overall response from the community has been extremely positive said Uribe. “We’ve received a lot of thanks from regulars who attended the Day of the Dead celebration,” she said.

Arizmendi Bakery first opened its doors five years ago. It specializes in breads, pastries and gourmet pizza. The worker-owned collective also operates the Cheeseboard in Berkeley, another Arizmendi shop in San Francisco and also on Lakeshore in Oakland. The shop’s most popular item is pizza. It is meatless, without sauce, and brimming with a salty flavor. The dough is covered with cheese and topped with ingredients like red onions, mushrooms, spinach, artichoke, arugula, gorgonzola, balsamic vinaigrette or toasted walnuts. Each day a single unique pizza is available beginning at 11:00 am.

Peek at Arizmendi’s daily menu at www.arizmendi-bakery.org/pizza_schedule.php.

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