In honor of Dia de los Muertos, a march will begin at 4:30 p.m. today at the rock on Farm Lane. The march will proceed to the state Capitol where political activist Guillermo Lopez will speak.

The day began as a Mexican holiday designed to honor the lives of lost family and friends. Offerings are placed in homes and businesses to commemorate the person’s favorite items, such as candy, cigarettes and photographs.

In addition, a dance will be held from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. at McKinley Hall, 914 McKinley Drive in Lansing. The cost is $8 per person and $10 per couple.

The event is sponsored by the Office of Racial Ethnic Student Affairs, Culturas de las Razas Unidas, the Julian Samora Research Institute, Movimiento Estudiantil Xicano de Aztlan and the Xicano Development Center and the Commission on Spanish Speaking Affairs.

Robert Nothoff, an urban planning and economic development senior, said he thinks the events of Sept. 11 will influence people to reflect. He said the march was created to allow all cultures an opportunity to embrace their losses.

“The holiday is a celebration of the lives our people lived before,” the CRU member said. “This is a way to unify cultures and turn the negative into the positive. It’s traditionally a way of expressing ourselves and exposing our culture.”

Social relations senior Monica Matteo, chairwoman of MEXA, said the holiday’s theme of death can relate to anyone.