On Tuesday, November 3, the Mexican Student Association (MEXSA) hosted a gathering in Galloway campus’s Multicultural center to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. The celebration lasted through 5:00-7:00 P.M., which saw Mexican cuisine offered to anyone who joined.

MEXSA started the event off with a short presentation about the holiday and its history, purpose and importance within Mexican culture. The holiday has its roots in Indigenous pre-Hispanic culture, while also coming from All Saints’ Day, an old Catholic holiday celebrating the saints of the Church. During the first few days of November, Dia de los Muertos is a celebration to honor dead loved ones. Often, altars are made featuring photos of the deceased, candles, and food to welcome their spirits. As said best within the presentation, Dia de los Muertos is a holiday of “love, family, culture & remembrance.”

To celebrate the holiday, MEXSA offered plenty of activities. There was the option of skull painting to make your own sugar skull, an important symbol of the holiday. There was also the option to create and decorate picture frames for loved ones. Alongside this, there was an altar made in which students could take photos of their creations. There was also the option to get your own face painted.

Dia de los Muertos is, in many ways, a celebration of life in as many ways as it is for death. People come together to honor their loved ones, friends, family and those who have passed on. The holiday gives people the ability to get together with friends in a way that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. As the holiday has come to an end, it reminds us just how important the people around us are.