Celebrating Life, Death, and Tradition on Día de Muertos
When passing through St. Michael’s College School (SMCS), staff, students, and visitors won’t be able to miss this regular fixture of the school throughout the last week of October and the first week of November.
The detailed and vibrant Día de Muertos altar is prominently on display in front of the main office for our school community to enjoy and even contribute to.
“We started in October 2021 as an initiative of the Spanish Club to share with peers and staff this important tradition of the Mexican culture,” says Georgina Garcia Garcia, teacher and moderator of the Spanish Club. “The Spanish Club builds the altar, and it is one of the most important activities the club develops in each school year.”
Día de Muertos or ‘Day of the Dead’ is a Mexican holiday that falls on November 1 and 2 where families come together to remember the deceased and welcome their souls back to the living world for a celebration. Traditionally, an altar is built featuring some of the departed loved one’s favourite things.
“Pictures of the loved ones who have departed and ‘ofrendas’ (offerings) are displayed on the altar,” says Garcia Garcia. “The tradition is that the departed come back to their families and people they love (children on November 1 and adults on November 2) if they are remembered and loved, but will not find the way back if they are forgotten.
“The departed are the guests of honour on Día de Muertos. Their lives are celebrated with a feast in which their favourite foods, drinks, and objects are placed at the altar. Candlelight and marigold flowers help them find the way to the altar, so they do not get lost.”
In addition to building the altar by hand, including hand-crafting the dozens of marigold flowers, the Spanish Club annually produces a video for the morning announcements that helps explain the origin of Día de Muertos and what the offerings mean.
“I wanted to be involved in the altar since it is a big part of my Spanish heritage,” says Liam Burns Gonzalez, Grade 11. “I think it is important for St. Mike’s to recognize the Day of the Dead as there are many students of Latino-American descent as well as there being a Catholic influence behind the altar and celebration.”
Día de Muertos falls on the Catholic holidays, All Saints Day and All Souls’ Day.
“It is important for St. Michael’s College School to recognize Día de Muertos as it has a great connection between indigenous and Catholic culture, making the school more aware of how other people express their Catholicism,” says Bernard Romero Dussaillant, Grade 11.
Garcia Garcia adds, “Death is seen as part of life. That is why skulls and skeletons are seen by and at the altar, an indigenous tradition, as well as crucifixes showing the strong Catholic root of the Mexican culture. The Aztec empire had been celebrating ‘Day of the Dead’ long before Spanish colonization fused it with Catholicism to create the Día de Muertos we know today. The spiritual holiday was originally intended to celebrate the Lady of the Dead, Mictēcacihuātl, Queen of Mictlān.”
Related links: