If you haven't already visited the Hispanic Outreach Program's Day of the Dead Display in the lobby of Hutchins Library, make time to come see it and reflect on those you have loved and lost.

So, what is the Day of the Dead? According to Marta Vides Saade, in Hispanic American Religious Cultures:

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a day of commemoration of family and friends who have died. In contemporary times, this commemoration takes place on November 2, to coincide with the Christian holy day of All Soul's Day. And yet, the commemoration is separate and distinct from the Christian holy day. The origin of the commemoration is sometimes attributed to Aztec or Nahuatl tradition, sometimes to postcolonial syncretism or a mixture of the indigenous Aztec/Nahuatl tradition with Christianity, and, in a more contemporary understanding, as a sign of Mexican national pride and as a Chicano sign of resistance, as well as indigenous precolonial pride. For some observers of the tradition, the commemoration remains a religious one, for others merely a cultural expression of identity, and for outsiders a kind of political recognition or even kitsch.

 

Visit the Altar

Share the name - or memory - of a loved one you would like to remember

Check out the beautiful Calavera Catrina