Richard Flores

The fifth-year celebration of Día de Los Muertos took place in the Free Speech Area at Fresno State where students, faculty and community members gathered together to celebrate and commemorate the life of their loved ones who have passed away.

The two-day event, on Monday and Tuesday, consisted of a display of altars, music from a American flutist, workshops, an open mic, and an opening and closing Aztec ceremony.

“Día de Los Muertos is a celebration that goes way back to our indigenous roots in México,” said MEChA President Alicia Orozco. “All the states celebrate it differently, but it’s a celebration of life.”

Orozco said that Nov. 1 is Día de los Angelitos, when people commemorate and honor the life of deceased children and on Nov. 2 of deceased adults.

Día de Los Muertos, which translates to Day of the Dead, is a celebration that not only takes place in different parts of México but also in Latin America countries, especially in indigenous communities.

This celebration provided an opportunity for people to know more about themselves.

“[It] forces people to remember their past, or at least to find out about their past,” said Chicano and Latin American Studies professor Ramón Sánchez. “It also reinforces your identity on a certain level.”

Sánchez said there are obvious differences in how Mexico and the United States celebrate this particular event.

“In Halloween you are afraid of the ghost and you are afraid of death, which reflects a big fear in our culture,” Sánchez said. “In Día de Los Muertos, you are not afraid of them, you are inviting the ancestors to come back.”

For the coordinator of the Día de Los Muertos event, Daniel Mejía, it meant more to him than that.

“[It] celebrates the life of our ancestors, those who passed away,” Mejía said.

This event was sponsored primarily by the Aztec Dance Club along with Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán and other organizations.

“Something that we try to do with the Aztec Dance Club is to show tradition and culture through our Aztec dance,” said Pedro García, president of the Aztec Dance club. “We are just a subset of a community, Danzantes Yoztaltepetl, which has been here for 15 years. We try to show through dance, through music, through our trajes and through our stories our culture.”

García said that instead of mourning for those who passed away, people should honor their lives.

“You do that by having different altares or altars, where you would have a picture of the person that passed away; a grandparent, an uncle, cousin, a family member, a friend,” said García. “With that, you have things associated with them: their favorite food, their favorite book or poem that represent them, cempasúchil flowers, candles, and stuff that represented them when they were alive.”

On Monday morning, students and faculty members had the opportunity to be part of this tradition by setting up an altar in honor of their loved ones.

These altars stayed until the closing ceremony, which was Tuesday night.

Spanish instructor Isolina Sands has been attending the event for four years and always encourages her students to participate. This year they helped her set up an altar for her son who died in 2003. Sands said she sees this as a way to remember him.

Sands said she wants to create social awareness about suicide and the importance of this tradition.

“If we forget our traditions, we forget a big part of who we are,” Sands said.

Students were able to listen to Martín González, a community artist and musician, who played his flute for an hour during the event.

Afterwards, students learned more about the celebration by attending the workshops “Día de los Muertos: Traditions from Oaxaca,” “The Struggle of The Zapatista and Trying to Keep Their Traditions Alive” and “Hueseros and Indigenous Medicine” at the Henry Madden Library.

Beginning at night, the Aztec ceremony was lead by Los Danzantes Yoztaltepetl, who performed an hour-long session of Aztec dances for those who have passed away.

“[The purpose of this event is] to instill a sense of pride and hopefully get them [students] to learn and continue to be part of this tradition,” said Fresno State graduate student Hector Cerda, who was also one of the dancers.

“Each year it gives us a chance to dance, to celebrate and honor the people who have died in a very healthy way rather [than in sadness],” Cerda said.

On Tuesday afternoon, students were able to listen again to González’s flute songs and gave testimonials and said prayers for those that passed away, sharing their stories about them in the open mic session.

Art major Mauro Carrera, 23, believes that this event has changed his life.

“After coming to Día of Los Muertos celebration [for three years], I was able to meet a lot of people,” Carrera said. “It affected my life in a lot of ways. I started to do a lot of cool things around here and I got to know a lot of good people.”

Carrera added that as an art student, culture in Fresno is not fully developed to its full potential and events like these provide more cultural awareness in the community.

“In the United States, [Día de Los Muertos Celebration] is an ethnic marker,” Sánchez said. “It’s part of the way Mexican-Americans can find something, a ritual, by which they can identify themselves as a community.”