On Nov. 3, the school hosted an assembly celebrating Dia de los Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead. It’s a holiday held from Nov. 1-2, which honors an individual’s deceased loved ones. Latino Student Union (LSU) and the dance class collaborated to perform three acts in this order: “Coco”-inspired “Remember Me”, “La Llorona” baile folklorico, and a salsa/bachata fusion. Sophomore Peyton West-Traxler danced in all three acts. ”

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“I think that it’s important to show people what cultures can look like,” West-Traxler said. “Showing that [Dia de los Muertos] could still be fun while also having kind of like a sad meaning, you know, that’s cool.”
The holiday liekly started in central and southern Mexico, but is now celebrated throughout the Latin diaspora, according to upper school history teacher and LSU adviser, Cindy Chavez.

“Its history is pretty nebulous. We don’t exactly know where it originated, but I can point to the 20th century, when Mexico was becoming a nation,” Chavez said. “They were purposefully emphasizing indigenous culture, and so that’s kind of the beginning of Day of the Dead, as a national symbol.”
Chavez didn’t celebrate the holiday when she was growing up, but now observes it to honor her roots and find community.

“This holiday is actually quite regional in Mexico. It’s not celebrated by all Mexicans,” Chavez said. “But here in the context of the United States, many Mexican-Americans see it as a point of connecting with their culture.”

An altar, also referred to as an ofrenda, is a prominent component of the holidays celebrations. The ofrenda was set up at UPrep in front of the Confrence Room 1, among featured items consisted family members’ photos, skulls, pan de muerto, sugar, candy, dolls and more decorations that commemorate deceased family members. junior Mica Wolf, LSU leader, compares and contrasts her family’s altar at home and UPrep’s.

“The personal one definitely has a lot more personal connections… Ours are bigger usually, we have a lot more different photos of people with different sort of tiers to it,” Wolf said. “But I like the UPrep one because it’s pretty general, which is good because people get to see the main way that people celebrate and get to participate in it.”

In-house substitute teacher and after-school coordinator David Moe observed the holiday for the first time this year by placing a photo of his late uncle Larry on the UPrep ofrenda as he’s been searching for ways to deal with his loss.

“I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about the afterlife and things like that. This, to me, feels appropriate for what I’m looking for,” Moe said. “I really like the physicalness. It’s celebratory, but it’s not like a party.”
Dia de los Muertos highlights the values within Latin culture, such as perspectives on death.
“It’s not seen as bad. It’s seen as a part of life,” Chavez said. “Seeing the way another culture views things that are difficult, like death, I think that’s really important.”

This is the first year LSU has presented a performance connected to the holiday, according to Wolf.
“We want to share our culture with the community to help people learn and appreciate it, and we also just like sharing our experiences and traditions, because we love to include,” Wolf said. “It benefits everyone because it’s such a fun and beautiful holiday.”

Fine Arts Department and PE teacher Jess Klein supports the LSU students’ performance passion.

“I care about our student body, diverse voices, and I want to be somebody who, through the arts, helps people share that,” Klein said.

Despite no cultural ties, Klein appreciates the holidays’ meaning.

“Bringing [loved ones] in to our memory through celebration and being together… conjuring almost a sense of who they are in our current lives.