Students celebrate Día de los Muertos

Across the world, it’s a celebration of life.

Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, is celebrated Nov. 2 and 3 primarily by Hispanic cultures.

La Casa Latino Cultural Center along with Sigma Lambda Beta and Teter Quad student government presented a Day of the Dead celebration Thursday night.

The event consisted of a speech by Rachel Gonzalez, graduate student and doctoral candidate, and periods of remembrance and a variety of Hispanic food.

“Día de los Muertos is really a celebration of life symbolized by inviting the dead back to earth for one night to celebrate with their family and friends who remember them fondly,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said families put out food and candles to bring their loved ones back to earth.

Altars, also called ofrendas, are offerings to the dead.

An altar was set up for SLB brother Anselmo Bueno who died in May 2006. His table was decorated with his favorite candy and a jersey for the Chicago Bears, his favorite football team.

“People will set up a little table space in their home and have articles that belonged to the person or representation of things that they liked,” Gonzalez said. “The spirit of the Day of the Dead is really encapsulated in the offering.”

Gonzalez said in Mexico, people celebrate Día de los Muertos at their relatives’ gravesites.

“No one really celebrates in cemeteries in the U.S. because it’s really not appropriate in the U.S. culture,” she said.

Senior Jamie Bennett said he did not know about Día de los Muertos before the event.
“I thought it was just like Halloween,” Bennett said. “It’s not like that. It’s deep.”

Karina Garduno, graduate assistant at La Casa said often times when people think of the Day of the Dead they think that its like Halloween.

“It’s more of a celebration of life,” Garduno said. “We just want the campus to be aware of some of the celebrations we have as a Latino culture and what it means to us.”

Juan Ayala Bernal, junior and president of SLB, said he wanted to pair up with La Casa to put on an event.

“One of our four pillars is cultural awareness and we wanted to bring a program with the Latino Cultural Center,” Bernal said.

Sophomore Lauren Boyd decided to visit Day of the Dead because she heard about it from her residence assistant.

“It was really informative and very interactive,” Boyd said. 

Students dedicated flowers to loved ones as well as wrote the loved one’s names on pieces of paper which were burned to commemorate them.

Gonzalez said she hoped people learned from the Día de los Muertos celebration.
“I very much hope that people get the differences between perceptions of death in different communities.” Gonzalez said.

“The Day of the Dead is not how Mexicans celebrate funerals, but it’s a special celebration for remembering the dead.”