In many societies, death is viewed as a source of mystery and fear. In Mexican culture, however, death is accepted as a part of life and celebrated in a festival honoring the deceased — “Día de los Muertos,” or the Day of the Dead. This year MEChA is commemorating the group’s 21st anniversary of publicly celebrating the festival.
Rodrigo Moreno, a MEChA member and political science major, said Day of the Dead is a day to remember lost loved ones.
“As opposed to the European way of regarding death, the Mexican tradition is not a mournful occasion,” Moreno said. “It is respectful and can sometimes be joyful.”
The event is free and will take place Saturday at 7 p.m. in the EMU Fir Room. The celebration will feature poetry, music, refreshments and a traditional Mexican “ofrenda.”
Isaac Torres, program director of MEChA, described the ofrenda as an important part of the heritage of Día de los Muertos.
“The ofrenda is an altar that is built to honor deceased family members,” Torres said. “It’s filled with flowers, pictures of the dead, food and the things dead relatives would have liked.”
“La Muerte Niña,” or The Young Death, is the theme for this year’s celebration. Torres said MEChA will focus on honoring deceased children by adding toys and candies to the ofrenda exhibition.
The highlight of the celebration will be a display of traditional Mexican photographs taken in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The pictures are of families and their dead children, known as “angelitos,” or little angels.
Armando Morales, a Spanish teacher at Oak Hill School, said the practice of taking pictures with angelitos was very popular in Mexico when photography was first invented. Parents of deceased children would dress them in their finest clothes and take pictures — which added to the ancient Mexican tradition, “cult of the dead.” The pictures reminded families of their angelitos and helped them realize that even though their children were dead, a spiritual link would remain.
“To have a little angel in Mexico is sad,” Morales said. “But at the same time, it’s a privilege because it’s a connection between heaven and earth.”
The collection contains approximately 40 photographs. Torres said this is the first time the pictures have been displayed outside Mexico. Mauiricio Vazquez, the keynote speaker for Saturday’s event, will discuss the history and significance of the photographs, as well as the traditions and background of the celebration.
Morales said the Day of the Dead is a significant holiday in Mexican culture because it is an opportunity for children to learn about death. In Mexico, death is not a source of fear for people, but rather is accepted as a natural occurrence that should be a source of celebration.
During Día de los Muertos, there are parties in the Mexican marketplaces where children can learn to accept death instead of fearing it. Children get little skulls made out of sugar, as well as toys and masks depicting skeletons and other symbols of death.
Death should be celebrated in a joyous way, Morales said. People can’t ignore death, even if they’re afraid of it.
“We come from the earth and we’re going to return to the earth,” Morales said. “You can’t stop the cycle.”