CHS club celebrates Dia de los Muertos
November 8, 2023
Story by Adriana Keeton, [email protected]
Natalia Luna celebrated the life of her father who recently passed with lighted sugar skulls, a collage of her favorite memories and his favorite dessert, strawberry empanadas. Photo by David Williams
The Cassville High School Renaissance Club gathered at the high school on Wednesday, November 1, to celebrate the lives of their passed loved ones for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
The event was a co-curricular project between Spanish, FACS, and Art classes. Attending students learned about the culture and history of Dia de los Muertos and enjoyed their loved one’s favorite desserts while watching the movie Coco.
The ancient Mexican holiday, which originated roughly 3,000 years ago among the Aztecs, Toltecs, and Mayans, is not a sad occasion, and it is not connected to Halloween. The tribes believed that death and the dead were a natural part of life that should be honored instead of mourned.
Students made ofrendas (offerings) for their departed loved ones. Ofrendas are the centerpieces of the celebration to beckon spirits back to the land of the living and are inspired by the four elements: fire, water, earth, and wind. The ofrenda alters usually include candles, water, a variety of traditional foods, and vibrant paper banners and are traditionally adorned with photographs, toys, marigolds, and skulls for the departed.
The event was a co-curricular project between Spanish, FACS, and Art classes. Attending students learned about the culture and history of Dia de los Muertos and enjoyed their loved one’s favorite desserts while watching the movie Coco.
The ancient Mexican holiday, which originated roughly 3,000 years ago among the Aztecs, Toltecs, and Mayans, is not a sad occasion, and it is not connected to Halloween. The tribes believed that death and the dead were a natural part of life that should be honored instead of mourned.
Students made ofrendas (offerings) for their departed loved ones. Ofrendas are the centerpieces of the celebration to beckon spirits back to the land of the living and are inspired by the four elements: fire, water, earth, and wind. The ofrenda alters usually include candles, water, a variety of traditional foods, and vibrant paper banners and are traditionally adorned with photographs, toys, marigolds, and skulls for the departed.
