October 27, 2000
OPINION
Dia de los Muertos: A Celebration of Life
Summer Worley
A rich coffee cake decorated
/ith meringues made to look like
)ones, sweets and can-
iies in the shape of
ikulls, and paper
tnache skeletons all
sound like the makings
[jfan excellent Hallow-
;en party. The holiday
iescribed is not Hal-
oween. It is The Day
)f the Dead, better
cnown as the Mexican holiday Dia
le los Muertos.
The Day of the Dead festivi-
;ies run the course of three days, de-
jnding on the culture. It is a cel
ebration for deceased family mem
bers and loved ones. The elaborate
decoration of the grave sites and pre
paring of altars begins on October
l31st.
The
ac
tual
cel-
I ebra-
1 tion
I coin-
! cides
I with
Staff Photo two
Catholic observances, All Saints
Day (November 1st) and All Souls
Day (November 2nd).
“My father’s family believes
that during this time the souls of the
dead family members and friends re
turn to celebrate life with them,”
stated Sara Cambarella, who has at
tended several of these gatherings
with her father in Huejutla, Mexico.
“It is also a healthy way to view
death. There is not as much grief
involved. It’s more a celebration of
life.”
A day of activities at Dia de
los Muertos may consist of gather
ing at the cemetery to leave some of
the departed’s favorite food and
drink or perhaps a favorite toy or
other prized possession. There are
often religious rituals involved at the
altars, which are also made to the
deceased. They tell stories of the
loved one and engage in food, drink
and good company. Children or fam
ily members exchange gifts with a
death motif, such as a loaf of bread
with a skeleton hidden inside or
sweets in the shape of bones.
To many of us this type of
ritual seems morbid, but death is
an inevitable part of life. It is how
we deal with it that is important.
Perhaps we should consider cel
ebrating Dia de los Muertos.
Remembering
Halloween Past
Kate Wiley
The clearest, fondest
nemory that I have of Halloween is
1 particularly cold, wet night from
he year I was in the eighth grade. I
lad worked for weeks to put together
ny predictable princess costume,
:omplete with the old, pink, thrift
itore prom dress. I went trick-or-
reating that year with
ny stepbrother and
jQod friend Jenifer.
^1y brother, being
ine years old,
ressed up as some
onstrous grim
eaper and Jenifer,
ho is much more
reative than I, con
structed an elaborate
ea bag costume.
We set out
Tom our house fairly
[early that evening and
rny parents drove us over to the next
neighborhood. This was a strategic
plan on our part. Their subdivision
was newer, nicer and the houses were
closer together. It all boiled down to
the most effective way to maximize
our candy returns.
The trick-or-treating process
went fairly quickly and, before we
knew it, the time to rendezvous with
my parents arrived. However, we
had managed to get ourselves lost
in the now dark, cookie cutter neigh
borhood. To add to our confusion,
the temperature was dropping fast.
Then the rain started.
We were quite a pathetic
bunch that night. With my brother
almost in tears, we walked the unfa
miliar roads for an
hour looking for a
green mini-van, eat
ing our candy booty,
and fighting off pneu
monia. My brother’s
little legs finally gave
out, and he sat pout
ing on the street curb
as Jenifer and I tried
to entertain him. Af
ter about 15 minutes
of our vain efforts,
our salvation pulled
around the comer and
took us back home.
I didn’t get pneumonia that
year and the candy returns weren’t
too impressive, but I will always
chuckle when thinking of that cold,
wet night and how we all thought we
were goners. The moral of my story
is that the smoothest, most comfort
able holidays are not necessarily the
only ones remembered fondly.
CAMPUS CAMt?IPS
By Eric Hinson
Johahrt3 Moff'T
9 ^
o
yOUR NAME HERE?