Thursday, February 26, 2026

West Altadenans Plan Ceremonial Walk Through the Burn Zone, First of Five Annual Processions

Hands in the Soil leads a route-based healing arts experience at Loma Alta Park on February 28

Its scarred path through West Altadena bears the marks of the Eaton Fire — cleared lots, rebuilt foundations, stretches of sidewalk where the oaks are charred. On Saturday, February 28, a procession of neighbors will walk throughthat path together, not in protest, and not in parade, but in what organizers describe poetically as a ‘ceremony in motion.’

The Through the Fire Procession, organized by the Pasadena-based nonprofit Hands in the Soil, will route participants through the burn zone from Loma Alta Park with curated moments of sound, prayer, and land-based offerings along the way, according to the organization.

It is the first of what organizers envision as five annual processions intended to support long-term recovery through arts-based healing and collective presence.

“We gather to honor what was changed, what was lost, and what continues to endure,” the organization states on its event page. The event is free and open to all ages.

Hands in the Soil, a wellness nonprofit founded in 2017, has been providing fire survivors with what it describes as culturally grounded emotional, spiritual, and land-based care since the Eaton Fire, including a monthly gathering series called Holding Space at Arlington Garden in Pasadena.

The Pasadena Community Foundation funded Hands in the Soil to launch a two-year initiative providing that care to survivors, according to the foundation.

The procession is produced in collaboration with three community organizations that have been central to Altadena’s recovery: Dena Heals, a mutual aid and wellness initiative that launched in January 2025 and provides free services to fire-impacted families; Altadena Rising, a collective of Altadena-raised Black organizers supporting recovery for the community’s most vulnerable residents; and My Tribe Rise, a grassroots organization serving working-class, elderly, and disabled Black residents in Altadena and Pasadena, according to each organization’s public descriptions.

The walk will begin with a gathering at 9 a.m. on the South Lawn of Loma Alta Park, on Palm Street at Lincoln Avenue. An opening ceremony starts at 9:30 a.m., and the procession moves at 10 a.m., returning to the park around 11:30 a.m. for what organizers describe as a soft landing and closing ceremony. A volunteer safety team and route marshals will guide participants.

For those who cannot attend in person, Hands in the Soil has created a digital community altar — an online space where community members can submit photographs and short remembrances of people, animals, homes, and landscapes affected by the fire. Submissions are accepted at www.handsinthesoil.com/through-the-fire.

Community members attending in groups of more than 10 are asked to email info@handsinthesoil.com with their party size and a point of contact. RSVP is available at www.handsinthesoil.com.

The procession also intersects with the 1,000 Voices Altadena Mosaic, a community arts project organized by the Los Angeles Conservancy. Clay sculptures created at a February 21 workshop will be displayed as part of the procession’s altar before being incorporated into the larger mosaic, according to the Conservancy’s website.

“Through the Fire is a communal offering — to the land, to one another, and to the histories that shape Altadena,” the organization states. The walk will move through West Altadena, the area where the fire’s toll was heaviest — where all but one of the 19 confirmed fatalities lived, and where single-family homes were damaged at nearly twice the rate of East Altadena, according to Catalyst California research.