Intercultural Student Services Celebrates Day of the Dead

HEATHER  ALFORD

THE SIGNAL

Candy and decorative skeleton masks overtook Bayou Building’s Atrium I Nov. 4 as UHCL celebrated Dia de los Muertos.

Every year Intercultural Student Services (ISS) puts on the event in order to introduce Dia de los Muertos to those who are unfamiliar with the primarily Mexican holiday and to create a space for the Latin American community to come, explained Liliana Zuniga, ambassador for ISS and art major.

Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a holiday celebrated Nov. 1 by remembering the dearly departed with dance, food and altars.  Instead of focusing on death, Dia de los Muertos is a celebration of the lives of those who have departed.

Every year ISS ambassadors come up with the theme and events that will take place at the Dia de los Muertos event. This year, Zuniga and Karina Acosta, ISS ambassador and sociology major, decided to focus on altars as the central theme.

A large community altar was put in the back of the Atrium where people could write loved one’s names on paper skulls to tape to the altar in remembrance.

Zuniga said some people think Day of the Dead is the Mexican version of Halloween.

“[It’s] important for people to understand culture and to express tradition,” Acosta said. “So many people have come up to me saying they thought this was the Mexican Halloween. It’s not.”

Special guest speaker Laura Lopez Cano held two presentations in celebration, one at 2 p.m. to explain the meaning behind the altars, and another at 4 p.m. to show people how to build one. “

You cannot build an altar when you’re sad,” Lopez Cano said.

Lopez Cano was adamant about Dia de los Muertos being a celebration of those who have lived, not focusing on the fact that they are dead. She handed out a pamphlet at the presentation describing the meaning behind the altar, or “ofrenda,” meaning offering, including why candles, paper flags and food are frequently seen atop altars.

To promote the understanding and importance of the ofrenda, ISS offered other activities including dressing up skeletons, making masks and face painting. Costumes were also provided at the event for those who wanted to participate in the best- dressed contest.

UHCL Foreign Language Program was also involved, with a booth dedicated to promoting other languages, and the Bilingual Education Student Organization (BESO), Hispanics Advancing Culture, Education, Roots (HACER), and Mujeres collaborated with a booth for making macaroni skeleton puppets.

This was Lopez Cano’s first time speaking at UHCL, but she visits colleges throughout the Houston- Galveston area to promote the celebration.

“It really is about culture and awareness,” Lopez Cano said.

Many students enjoyed the free food, taking pictures before a set with masks they’d made, or playing bingo as provided by The Society of Human Resource Management.

Silvia Morales, psychology and anthropology major, said she was surprised to see that the event included a small animation clip on Dia de los Muertos that played on repeat.

“I really liked it,” Morales said. “[It’s] interesting because some of our students are international, [and this is] a way for them to get to know Mexican culture.”

Swathi Punreddy, healthcare administration major, said she enjoyed everything about the event.

“I like it because it was different and fun,” Punreddy said. Susana Hernandez, assistant director of ISS, said Dia de los Muertos was an inherent part of ISS, an event they’ve done since before she started working there.

“Dia de los Muertos has become a tradition and an annual celebration for our office,” Hernandez said.