DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
Death and the Living
By: Sonia Perez Gandara
It was November 1. An altar decorated with flowers and the pictures of loved ones in their past lives, was surrounded by a group of students. Their faces were skeletal replicas. They represented death.
The students shared stories of their relatives that have departed the earth and its wonders. They weren’t mourning the death of their loved ones, instead they were celebrating the life that they once lived. When they finished their stories, they continued their journey onto another Columbia College building.
It was Day of the Dead. In fact, it was the first Day of the Dead celebration that Latino Alliance brought to Columbia College in 2005, a tradition that continues today.
Joevanny Durán, a Latino Alliance and Columbia College alum, along with his fellow e-board colleagues, were the ones who thought that this old tradition should come alive at the college. Durán recalls wanting to do an event that defined Latinos.
“It went around the theme of trying to keep it something that we can celebrate, and not only teach ourselves but teach the people at Columbia,” he said.
After Latino Alliance students spent the whole day traveling to different Columbia buildings informing other students about Day of the Dead, they held a procession that consisted of Aztec dancers. When the procession concluded, a party was held at the Hokin Annex, and he said the response the event received was unbelievable. More than 300 people showed up.
“Personally, I didn’t think that there was going to be so much people coming out. We were shocked at how many people came out that day,” Durán said.
The huge success of the very first Day of the Dead celebration, made the organization proud of all the hard work that they have done. Students took time out of their schedule, and even came out on weekends to help make the decorations and the masks for the event.
“The way the [organization] just came together, and just kicked ass because I remember we started planning this thing over the summer. But I remember time just started crunching. We had to do so many things,” he said.
That was just two years ago, and in that short amount of time, the Day of the Dead event has grown bigger and better.
“It nice to hear that such a simple idea has evolved and gotten bigger,” Durán added.
The big 20th anniversary celebration
On November 2, 2007, during their annual Day of the Dead celebration, Latino Alliance also celebrated their 20th year anniversary. The founders of Latino Alliance, formerly known as Hispanic Alliance (HACC), as well as all alumni from the past 20 years were invited to the event.
Donations were accepted to hopefully fund another service trip to the Dominican Republic, and fund the continued excellence of Latino Alliance.