Adams Embraces Mexican Culture with Day of the Dead Celebration
November 7, 2018
One of the most important celebrations in Mexico is El Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which is celebrated from October 31 through November 2 each year. The holiday is a time for family members to reflect upon and honor the lives of those who have passed away. Every year, senior IB Spanish HL & SL students participate in their ow
n version of an activity that is significant to the celebration.
Weeks ago, students began to gather materials to create altars, also called ofrendas. The ofrenda is one of the most important parts of the Day of the Dead celebration and is a large altar to honor family members who have p
assed away. The ofrenda can include candles, flowers, skulls, crosses, food, alcohol, and other items that were important to the person that it is honoring. The students at Adams formed small groups and each group chose a famous person who has passed away to honor in their altar. Notable people that were represented included Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, Selena, Mercedes Sosa, José Martí and many more. Right before Day of the Dead began, students assembled their altars on the indoor track in the B Gym, where the were on display for the entire week leading up to and including Day of the Dead.
On Wednesday, October 31, the first day of the celebration, all of the IB Spanish 5 students attended a day-long field trip to the University of Notre Dame to participate in a special celebration of the holiday. The morning began with a breakfast with Notre Dame spanish students that included many Latin American foods. Following this, Adams students gave presentations about their altars to the Notre Dame students and the Notre Dame students gave presentations to the Adams students about important people and events in Latin American history. Lunch was provided by a Mexican restaurant from Elkhart, and included authentic Mexican food, in order to continue the honoring of Latin American culture throughout the day. In the afternoon, students to toured the Snite Museum of Art and saw many exhibits representing a wide variety of art.
On Thursday, every Spanish class, besides those that constructed the altars, voted on which altar was the best. The third place altar was Mercedes Sosa, constructed by Hannah Easterbrook, Maddie Lorenz, and Joey Shrader; the second place altar was Selena, constructed by Claire Hargis, Sofia Lora, Leena Mariani, and Julia McKenna; and the first altar was Frida Kahlo, constructed by Lorena Morgan and Corwynne Pugh. Also on Thursday, WNDU came to Adams to interview students about the altars and the Day of the Dead holiday. To learn more about what the students did, the WNDU segment is linked.
Overall, the celebration was a great way to embrace other cultures in our school and community and great way to learn about an important Mexican holiday!
