UA Freshman Honor Dia de los Muertos
Wednesday, 02 November 2011 23:39
A University of Arizona freshman class teamed up with the UA bookstore this week to honor their loved ones and educate students about "Dia de los Muertos."
Tuesday and Wednesday students from the Hispanic Alumni Scholarship class set up an altar in the lower level of the UA bookstore as part of a class project on "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead).
“This altar is my whole class honoring who or what affected their life in some way,” Aja Martinez, graduate assistant for Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs, said.
Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican tradition to honor deceased family members and friends that takes place from Nov. 1 to Nov. 2. In Tucson, Dia de los Muertos is celebrated through the All Souls Procession (happening this weekend).
Part of the reason for the display, which was accompanied by altars constructed by other groups, was to educate UA students who know about the procession but do not understand the traditions behind it.
“It’s nice to have this kind of acknowledgement too so that it’s all explained and people are understanding why they’re performing these actions in the parade,” Martinez said.
Students placed items of special significance to their loved ones and photos of them on the altar, along with a short paragraph about the person. They also gave a presentation on traditional Dia de los Muertos artifacts like marigolds, water and "pan de muerto" (bread of the dead).
The altar was helpful to students still mourning the loss of a loved one.
Samuel Salazia, a bio-chemistry freshman, took the opportunity to honor his grandfather.
“I struggled with losing him especially with coming to college for the first time. It was difficult balancing all these new classes and experiences on top of losing my grandfather,” he said. “It gives me a good sense of closure in being able to honor him like this.”
Cindy Serrano, a freshman majoring in French, said the experience was difficult but also offered her a chance to heal. She was remembering her dog, who died last year.
“It was kind of painful because I had to write a paragraph about him. I haven’t really talked about him to other people,” she said. “It still kind of hurts, even right now, just to see it.”
Some students honored people they did not know but who had impacted them greatly.
Fernanda Bueno made a tribute to Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon professor most famous for his presentation “The Last Lecture.”
"I think it's very powerful because we take life for granted sometimes," she said.
Students who had not celebrated Dia de Los Muertos in the past said they would make it a tradition in the future.
"It's nice just to be able to remember them every year and keep their memory fresh," Salazia said.
To celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Spanish for Day of the Dead) and honor those who have passed, there is an exhibit called "Artistic Expressions" taking place on the lower level of the UA Bookstore in the Student Union Memorial Center from Nov. 1 to Nov. 3. Day of the Dead altars are on display, made by 50 undergraduates in Chicano Hispano Student Affairs and Mexican American Studies courses. Kaatrina Arrington took photos of some of these very personal tributes at the Dia de los Muertos presentation given on Nov. 1 at the exhibit.Written by Madelaine Archie You are reading UA Freshman Honor Dia de los Muertos articles
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