Every November, just after Halloween, another celebration begins for the Tucson community: the All Souls Procession.
In the center of El Barrio Hollywood, over 100,000 people gather garbed in their Sunday’s best, their skeleton face paint, their monastery robes, or their everyday clothes. Despite the variance in their outfits, their purpose is the same: celebrating the lives of those close to them who’ve passed on.
“The community raises the funds to have this. It’s very traditional, very cultural, and its uplifting when people from everywhere come just for these types of events right here,” said Monique Quihuis, the daughter of Lulu Quihuis who owns A’s Barber Shop on Grande Avenue in Barrio Hollywood.
The neighborhood that the procession is in has nearly 3,000 residents and several small business and restaurants, with all groups on Grande Avenue doing what they can to create the sense of community that’s seen on such a big day, as the community members take the streets wearing their elaborate outfits and write notes to their passed love ones. Some of the homeowners on the main street sell frybread made fresh by the family on their front lawn. One of the organizations found there is the American Legion, an organization focused on giving back to war veterans and the community.
“We plan functions, we plan events. We have steak fries, Christmas parties, fish fries,” said George Lopez. “We even have requests to use our hall, to use our parking lot, whatever.”
Lopez, who has been a part of the Legion for 46 years, holds the title of commander for the group, which means he oversees the operations of the group and its many subgroups.
Anna Marie Arenas and George Lopez smile in the American Legion parking lot on Nov. 3rd at the All Souls Procession in Tucson, Ariz.
The Legion, which moved to the barrio back in 1992, has made concerted efforts to ensure their community is well off. They’ve frequently opened their doors to members of the group and neighborhood to hold afterlife celebrations after funerals, as well as charitable bike nights, wherein the motorcycle subsection of the Legion holds a kind of motorcycle show that concludes with a raffle that gives 25 kids new bikes, without any entry cost.
“We’re all in it for the community,” said Lopez.
“Our goal is to awake the sleeping giant of the barrio,” said Anna Marie Arenas, the treasurer of the barrio’s American Legion chapter. “This is our third year doing some type of honoring in our community.”
Despite what her title says, Arenas’ job frequently sees her doing much of the public relations work and venue planning at the Legion. Since they’re only recently active in the All Souls Procession, one thing that Arenas is painfully aware of is their lack of presence to most people.
“We have great schools in this barrio, great participants in the community. You’d be surprised how many people don’t know the American Legion and what our goal is,” said Arenas. “We were established in 1946 and we aren’t that well known.”
Despite their lack of social standing, their compound was filled on November 4th with several booths, from local DJs to food vendors and even a local youth mariachi band of 18 kids.
Monique Quihuis stands in front of her aunt's barbershop, A's, during the All Souls Procession on Nov. 3rd in Tucson, Ariz.
“We’re here for the veterans, we’re here for the active military and their families, but we’re also here for the community. Especially Barrio Hollywood,” said Arenas.
One of the hardest realities of the procession is that it has shrunk considerably over the years.
“It used to be twice as big and run through downtown, but because of the funding it’s gotten smaller,” said Quihuis of A’s Barber Shop. “We used to have off-duty police officers that would donate their time and go and block the roads for us.”
Quihuis thinks it might be local politics that has led to the decline of the procession, citing legal implications of anything happening while they’re working the procession as off-duty officers.