On Thursday, MSU students and Lansing residents danced, dined on traditional food and learned about Latino history during MSU Museum’s 5th annual Day of the Dead Celebration.
The program was dedicated to Latina actresses Lupe Velez, Dolores del Rio and Margarita Carmen Cansino, who all are credited with finding success in Hollywood during a time that “was not kind, to say the least, to women,” according to a press release about the event.
Attendees of the event were served tamales, a dish MSU history professor Dr. Juan Pescador describes as one of the most traditional in Mexican culture.
According to Pescador, who helped organize the event, Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos as it’s known in Mexico, is one of the oldest and most popular celebrations in the Americas.
During the celebration, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities assistant professor Estrella Torrez performed with her Aztec dance group, of which she is the leader. Dressed in Aztec garb, the group consisted of both Latino community members and MSU students. The youngest member of the group was 5 years old.
Torrez said she came to MSU in 2008 from New Mexico. She immediately wanted to bring the tradition to campus and partnered with Pescador when she discovered his plans for a celebration at the MSU Museum.
“It’s important because the Latino presence in Michigan is a strong presence, and it’s a way of honoring that presence, and also to highlight the Latino population and things that are important to us,” she said.
East Lansing resident Jennifer Somerville, who attended the event with her kids, said she enjoyed the dancing the most.
“It was a great experience, learning about culture,” she said. “I think it’s great for my kids, learning about the culture and celebrating Dia de los Muertos.”
Attendees also were able to get their faces painted as a skeleton, a practice Torrez said is traditional for the holiday.
Originally beginning as a holiday to honor deceased family members, Pescador says today’s Day of the Dead is more multidimensional.
“The celebration has three aspects: to celebrate the Latino community and its experiences, to bring the community together and also to promote issues of social justice and political activism,” he said.
Pescador said he believes Day of the Dead has grown to the point where it’s too big to fit “one narrow narrative.”
“It is a multidimensional phenomenon, and for some, like us, a ritual of memory, resistance, beauty and hope,” he said.
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