Over 30 students came together at La Casa Cultural Latina Monday night
to participate in festivities honoring the deceased in the celebration
of Dia de los Muertos--the Day of the Dead.
Students painted their faces white to symbolize skulls, set off fireworks,
played steel drums and danced during the celebration, which also included
two presentations and a videotape about the holiday.
The Dia de los Muertos is the last day of a three-day celebration running
from Halloween on Saturday to All Soul's Day on Monday, said Gabriel Cortez,
freshman in education.
Lorena Garcia, freshman in LAS, said that in most Latin American countries,
people build altars of clay on Oct. 31 to remember the children who have
died. The celebration on Nov. 1 is more elaborate, with spicy food and
drink. A priest comes to bless the altar in each house and neighbors visit
to share drinks with each other, she said.
Garcia said Nov. 2 is a day of recovery after two days of celebration and
includes a procession from the town to the cemetery, where people have
a picnic near the tombstones of their loved ones.
"It's a way for the dead to be part of the family again for one night,"
Garcia said.
Cortez said that in Mexico and other Latin American countries the celebration
is as well-known as Christmas is in the United States.
"They devote special time to the dead to prove that they do care," Cortez
said. People celebrate with costumes, candles and skulls for the entire
three days, and some of these traditions are also used to celebrate Halloween
in the United States, he said, adding that celebrants have "changed it
into major materialistic stuff."
Students planned the celebration to bring their history to the University,
Cortez said. "This is the first time we've done this. We're stretching
out to our traditions, going back to our roots," he said.
The festivities also included a videotape discussing the history of the
holiday and what many people in Latin American countries do to celebrate.
"This has been a ceremony that has been around for centuries--even before
Columbus invaded America," Garcia said.
To Latinos, death is a beginning and not an ending to the cycle of life.
"Death was as natural as breathing," Garcia said.
Students set up an altar with candles, flowers, burning incense, food and
pictures or memorabilia of loved ones who had passed away.
"Without the altar there would be no place for the dead to gather," Garcia
said. "The flowers are yellow because yellow is the color that attracts
the spirits. Yellow is the flower of the nature of life."
Each person at the celebration was given a flower to place on the altar
to remember anyone who had passed away. Students then listened to music
while eating the food placed on the altar--symbolically sharing it with
the dead.
"It is not a good idea to neglect anyone who has passed," Garcia said.
"Then they would be forced to perpetrate acts of revenge against you and
your family that are irreversible."
News story by Elaine Richardson, Cultural-affairs reporter.
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