 "Photo: Juan Carlos Campos")
Next week, the mortuary science department invites you to a celebration involving skulls, spirits and gravesite decorations.
This is Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a time to celebrate the lives of and reunite with family members who have died.
Day of the Dead altars cropped up all over campus this week, including in the foreign languages hallway in the academic instruction center, nursing and allied health complex and Nail Technical Center.
The mortuary science department is hosting interactive information sessions 9 a.m.-noon Monday and Tuesday in Nail.
Sessions at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. each day include how to create “papel picado,” or intricately cut paper banners in Room 241, “alfeñiques,” which are sugar skulls made for children, in Room 234, and “ofrendas,” or traditional altars, in Room 231.
Mortuary science Professor José Luis Moreno said the department is excited about the event and wants to stress the difference between Halloween and Día de los Muertos.
Moreno is scheduled to direct a session on ofrendas and what to include in the ritual. On the south side of Nail near Room 243 is an altar created by mortuary science faculty.
Another ofrenda will be created by students on Monday. Students are asked to bring photos and personal mementos of loved ones they have lost.
The altars will be set up for two more weeks after the celebration.
Professor Felix B. Gonzales will instruct visitors Monday and Tuesday on how to create “very simple” papel picado or paper that is cut into decorative designs.
He said the papel picado shows a different perspective and includes festive skeletons and skulls. The completed art will be displayed on the first floor of Nail.
Gonzales said “death masks for the living” will be made from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. on both days as a memento. In the past, people who were not wealthy would have a mold cast of their relatives right after they died.
Now a newer technique is used, but he said the death masks will be fun to make and cited St. Therese’s sculpture at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Little Flower Catholic Church, 824 Kentucky Ave.
St. Therese’s sister, who was also a nun in the same convent, made two death masks of her after the death. One was incorporated into the tomb chapel at Little Flower here and another is located in France.
“It is the closest you will come to seeing her real face,” Gonzales said.
A session on alfeñiques, or sugar skulls, will be taught by mortuary science Professor Francisco Solis but with a twist. Instead of the traditional pure sugar, he will use chocolate and decorative icing.
The pure sugar would take about eight hours to dry and Solis said young children would probably enjoy the chocolate more.
Solis said Día de los Muertos is important because of cultural awareness especially with such a large Latino population on campus.
He said it was appropriate for mortuary science to host the celebration.
Following the sessions from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. will be a “soft open house” where the public will be invited to tour the remodeling of the department.
Refreshments will be served.
The new classrooms have already been in use this semester, but the tour will give the public a chance to view the new embalming and anatomy rooms.
Solis said that some people are not sure what the celebration is and ask if the holiday is about voodoo. “It’s only supposed to be a celebration of life.”
For more information, call 486-1139.
Still confused about this holiday?
This Latino custom was first celebrated more than 3,000 years ago, and has been a vital part of Mexican culture so deep-rooted that it survived the Spanish conquest and was co-opted by the Catholic Church to coincide with the Catholic holidays All Saints’ and All Souls’ days with Nov. 1 reserved particularly for deceased children.
According to “The Day of the Dead, When Two Worlds Meet in Oaxaca” written by Shawn D. Haley and Curt Fukuda, the influence el Día de Muertos has on the daily lives of southern Mexicans is “immeasurable.”
The book says that the celebration is joyous and exuberant and has an impact on how people see the world and themselves in it.
Around the middle of October, families visit the cemeteries and invite their loved ones to the celebration. They create altars in their home and host parties for which they save money all year long.
In addition to the deceased relatives’ favorite foods, “pan de muerto,” or the bread of the dead, which resembles the shape of a skeleton, is ordered by many from bakeries.
The popular sugar skulls also hold a deeper meaning. While outsiders may view the thought of eating candy skulls morbid, a Mexican views this act as immortalizing himself. He has no fear and laughs at death.
This perspective also explains why artists use skeletons to parody death. They mock death by creating papier maché sculptures and caricatures to show they have no fear.
In America, many Mexican-Americans still take loved ones’ favorite foods and drinks to their gravesites and spend time visiting in the cemetery.
Today, many people celebrate the Day of the Dead by taking part in citywide celebrations and purchasing Día de los Muertos artwork. For citywide events, go to www.sacalaveras.com.
After this college’s celebration, you could head over to Centro Cultural Aztlan for their 32nd annual Día de los Muertos celebration at 1800 Fredericksburg Road. The opening reception starts at 6 p.m. and will feature a performance by Urban 15 and installation art created by dozens of local artists.
For more information, call 432-1896.
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