Bright colors and aromatic food filled the Purdue Memorial Union’s ballrooms during the Latino Cultural Center’s annual Día de Los Muertos event on Tuesday.
The Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday that celebrates people’s loved ones, celebrities, and even pets. In the PMU’s ballroom, the community came together to celebrate the culture and bring attention to a variety of causes.
Different groups danced on stage in colorful dresses, some wearing face paint, to traditional Mexican songs as attendees ate tamales and pan de muertos.
Catrinas and Catrines walk through the crowd during Tuesday’s Día de los muertos celebration. Catrinas and Catrines represent life’s equality and how there is no social status in death.
There were also stations to decorate sugar skulls and create flowers from cutting tissue paper.
Student organizations were able to set up tables with “ofrendas,” a type of altar used for Day of the Dead. The altars generally have pictures of the dead, treats, and flowers.
“I think this is one of the more popular events that happens yearly on campus,” said Ben Maxwell, who was running the Global Engineering Ambassadors table. “It always is a fun time to engage and see demonstrations of dances and everything, and we’ve gotten pretty decent engagement as well.”
One such student organization, the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, set up a table with information about the organization and a small ofrenda, or altar, featuring important figures in the history of SACNAS.
“We’re happy to be part of (the event) and also welcome other cultures that might not know about Dia de los Muertos,” said Amyneth Arceo, a second-year Ph.D. student studying mathematics who was running the table.
Another student organization that set up a table was the Latino Medical Student Association. Manny Perez, a junior studying biochemistry with a pre-med concentration, was one of the students running this table.
“We want to spread awareness for the Latinos before us. We know there’s a lot of people who left a significant impact on medicine … We want to make this day about them,” Perez said.
The Latino Cultural Center, which made the entire celebration possible, also had prominent figures on its ofrenda, from singer Selena Quintanilla to poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
“We do have an emphasis on celebrating (Latino) culture, because we are the Latino Center for Wellness and Education,” said Abe Zaragoza, who was running one of the tables.
A women talks to an attendee in front of a large altar during Tuesday’s Día de los muertos celebration. These altars traditionally have pictures of ancestors and their favorite foods and items on thems.
Zaragoza said his favorite part of Day of the Dead as a whole is the opportunity to come together as a community and celebrate various cultures together.
Latinos in Science and Engineering, previously known as the Mexican American Engineering Society, was also tabling at the event. They had an ofrenda set up honoring the families of some of their members.
Alex Barker, a junior studying Mechanical Engineering Technology, was one of the students running that table. He highlighted the importance of remembrance on Día de los Muertos.
“My favorite part is just being able to honor our relatives and have that day of remembrance,” Barker said.
