Día de los Muertos, a Mexican holiday based strongly in indigenous culture, is a “yearly tradition that celebrates and honors those who have passed and played an influential part in our lives,” LASO shared in a recent email invitation it sent out to the campus.
An integral part of the holiday is an altar featuring photographs of deceased family or friends, as well as flowers, candles, and treats, which “symbolically welcome back those who have passed away” and allows its builders to “keep…ancestors alive in both memory and spirit.”
LASO built a homemade altar in Baxter House, inviting anyone who wished to add a photo or keepsake of someone they loved who had passed away. Students were also invited to enjoy a meal and party provided by LASO, Baxter House, and the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, on Nov 1.
This is the first time in recent Bowdoin history that Día de los Muertos has been observed. “I wanted to celebrate it last year, but wasn’t sure that I could,” said Maria Perez Mendoza ’21, who is both a member of LASO and a resident of Baxter House, one of the eight social houses on Bowdoin’s campus that regularly collaborate with other groups to host events. “Living in Baxter let me be able to organize this space and make an event like this happen.”
The next day, Friday, students were invited to join LASO again in decorating sugar skulls and sugar skull cookies. Perez Mendoza described sugar skulls as “traditional folk art symbolizing the ‘sweetness’ within death.” Students were given the option to take their finished sugar skulls home as a treat or place them on the altar.
“I loved going to Día de los Muertos,” said Sydney To ’19. “I’ve never really known much about this holiday, and I liked finding out about it through not just a presentation, but the alter, and the food and all the conversation as well.”
