Dia de los Muertos

Victoria Shamrell, Assistant Scene Editor

While Halloween is big in America, Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is celebrated in Mexico.

The Center for Diversity and Social Justice (CDSJ) is busy preparing for the Dia de los Muertos celebration to be held in the SURC ballroom on Nov. 3 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Brief history

Armando Ortiz, junior english secondary education major, is a student programmer for CDSJ.

According to Ortiz, Day of the Dead started when La Catrina was created by José Guadalupe Posada, who was a journalist in Mexico. During Posadas time as a journalist, his representation of Mexico was that it was going through a dark period.

“How he represented the Mexican government was drawing them as skulls and representing the people as them dying and things like that,” Ortiz said. “La Catrina was him embracing death and celebrating it.”

Day of the Dead is celebrated over a three day period.

Oct. 31 is day one, and children build altars to invite the souls of children back to earth.

Nov. 1 is when the souls of adults are invited back on earth.

Nov. 2 is All Souls Day, when families go to cemeteries to visit and decorate the graves of dead relatives.

“The history behind it is celebrating the death because you’ve already mourned them. So now, every year, you have the chance to celebrate them for all the good they’ve brought to the world and all the good they bring to the afterlife,” Ortiz said.

Costume contest

During the CDSJ celebration,  a costume contest will be held in the SURC to determine whose costume best represents El Catrin and La Catrina. La Catrina is a female skeleton who is a Day of the Dead icon, and El Catrin is her male counterpart.

La’Shawnda Mason, senior food and nutrition major, is a student programmer for CDSJ and one of the students helping to plan the Dia los de Muertos celebration.

“You can go traditional or you can go modern with your look for El Catrin or La Catrina, or you can do a combination of both. There is no gender limitations or anything like that, making sure it’s family friendly not too much cleavage and/or the guys, El Catrin don’t look like a pimp,” Mason said. “It’s just making sure you are doing your homework and representing what they’re about. Basically you can be as creative as you want, just in those limitations and being appropriate for families.”

The first place winner in the costume contest will receive $100. The second place winner will receive $50 and the third place winner will get $25, Ortiz said.

“It’s not a Halloween costume. [The Day of the Dead] is a celebration, “ Mason said.

Celebration in the SURC

At the start of the celebration, there will be Aztec dancers that will perform traditional dances, Mason said.

According to Mason, Movimiento Estudiantil Chinana/o de Aztlan (MEChA) students will be some of the dancers in the show, and they’ll be taught by elders from Mexico.

After the dancing there will be different tables set up for sugar skull decorating and kids will decorate bags with their sugar skulls on them as either El Catrin and La Catrina, Mason said.

There will also be paper flower making, a photo booth and face painting.

“Sugar skulls, they’re made to kind of mock death, because this is a celebration of life. And so you can design them any way you want with either like a smiling face or happy face it doesn’t matter,” Ortiz said. “Sometimes they have real representation of how someone passed away and how they lived their life.”

At the feast there will be traditional Mexican food like tacos, enchiladas, rice, beans, Day of the Dead bread and hot chocolate, Mason said.

The mariachi group, Mariachi de Central, will be the main music at the celebration.

“I think it gives students a chance to experience some other culture that’s not theirs and get a hands-on experience,” Mason said.

It’s going to be a fun celebration with free food, and teaching about a culture that students may not know about.

“It’s gonna be a lot of fun no matter what your background is, I guarantee that [you’ll] fun learning and being around a diverse group of people that is at Central.”