By Jose Gonzalez
University of Maryland students and faculty created picture frames and other crafts to celebrate Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, at the Vista Lounge in Cole Field House on Oct. 26.
Multicultural Involvement & Community Advocacy, an organization that aims to create spaces for students to embrace different identities, hosted the event for students to honor their late loved ones and create traditional Mexican crafts, such as papel picado, paper marigolds, and paper sugar skulls.
Attendees who made picture frames placed them on the community ofrenda, an altar set up to honor and welcome the souls of the dead.
“We just wanted a way that was accessible for folks, participants, students, community members, whoever, to come in and honor their loved ones and be in community with one another,” said MICA program director Kyrsha Balderas. “And then also provide that opportunity for them to create something to add to the community altar.”
Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday, held on Nov. 1 and 2, where families welcome back their deceased loved ones through celebration, food and drinks.
According to the History Channel, the living treat the dead with their favorite foods at gravesites or ofrendas and the souls of the dead awaken to celebrate with them.
At the event, guests ate traditional Mexican food like pan de muerto, a sweet roll baked specifically for Day of the Dead.
Balderas said MICA held the event so students and attendees could meet and connect with their own community.
“We wanted people to connect with one another and be chill and have conversations and meet new people,” Balderas said. “We wanted to provide an opportunity for folks to grieve in community with one another, to share those stories about those who have passed on, to be able to relate to one another and find that common thread.”
Athena Baker, a first-year graduate special education student, attended the event to honor her sister.
“I remember when my sister passed away in 2017, going to a Día de los Muertos celebration at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee,” Baker said. “It just helped alleviate the shock that I was going through … I don’t have her picture with me right now, but I did make, in her honor, an origami hat with a little witch’s hat on top because she loved ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ growing up.”
Other students, like freshman aerospace engineering major Aanya Singh, said she liked the holiday and food provided.
“I actually think it’s really nice to honor the dead and to remember the dead,” Singh said.
According to Balderas, the ofrenda was put up last week and students can add to it until Nov. 5.
Featured Image: MICA’s crafting event at The Vista in Cole Field House on Oct. 26 for the community ofrenda for Dia de los Muertos. Photo by Charlotte Florin.