Library hosts holiday in
honor of deceased
By Megan Finnerty
Features
Editor
She is not beautiful, but her bony white face is
unforgettable. She never accomplished anything great, but everyone knows
who she is.
Some know her as La Flaca, La Huesuda or La Muerte.
Death. And today is her day. Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead,
is a traditional Mexican holiday celebrated Nov. 2 by honoring the dead.
Although Lafayette might not seem like an obvious
place for a Mexican celebration of death, Tippecanoe County has a growing
Hispanic population, bringing with it a variety of cultural traditions
and some unusual candy.
Crunchy sugar skulls decorated with colorful icing,
candy skeletons and sweet pan dulce will be shared with crafts and other
traditions at the Dia de los Muertos celebration from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday
at the Tippecanoe County Public Library.
For the last two years, the free event, now in
its third year, has drawn a diverse mix of about 100 people, including
several community organizations that have created altar displays for
the event.
Kirsten Serrano, head outreach services librarian,
said the library does a lot of Latino programming as part of a two-fold
effort to bring members of the Latino community into the library and
to encourage interaction between the Latino and American cultures.
"We have a growing Latino community here and it's
important for us to understand each other better," she said. "I really
like the way that the Mexican culture views death. It's a really beautiful
celebration, and the more we understand about this holiday, the more
we can understand about the people who celebrate it."
Michele Ulloa, a senior in the School of Liberal
Arts, said the Mexican culture doesn’t fear death, but rather celebrates
it with food, candles and festive clothes.
"It's a big thing," she said. "It's like a festive,
happy day in remembrance of the people who have passed."
Ulloa grew up in a predominantly Mexican-American
area and said she understands why people would want to celebrate the
day, even though it is not a commonly observed holiday in the United
States.
"It's an interesting day that turns death into
something to be celebrated," she said.
Araceli Sanchez, a senior in the School of Management,
lived in Durango, Mexico, until she was about 10. Although Durango is
in the northern half of the country, which is not as traditional as
the southern half, she remembers looking forward to the day's candies
and festivities.
"Some people hold the party in their houses, other
people go to the cemeteries and bring flowers," she said.
Families decorate their homes with skeletons and
papier mâché masks in the shape of devil and goblin faces.
Sanchez said families decorate altars in their
houses with flowers and pictures of loved ones that are dead.
"(Then) they put that person's favorite dish on
the altar or something that they left behind that they enjoyed," Sanchez
said.
Serrano, who made all the pan dulce for the event
from her mother-in-law's recipe, said traditionally people believe children's
souls come back on Nov. 1 and the families celebrate on Nov. 2 by picnicking
on the gravesites.
"It means that you're gone physically, but you're
still a part of the family and we know you’re still here," she
said.
|
