Every year, the Centro Cultural César Chávez and the kaku-ixt mana ina haws come together to host a Día de los muertos ofrenda, honoring lost loved ones and carving out an intentional space to remember them.
This year, the celebration is moving to the Toomey Lobby at PRAx to allow more space for community members to join and participate, as more than 300 people have attended in recent years. The opening ceremony is from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2, and then the ofrenda will remain in place and available to the community during PRAx lobby hours until Nov. 4.
An ofrenda, literally translated to “offering,” is a traditional altar to the dead prepared for Día de los muertos every Nov. 1 and 2. The tradition is practiced throughout Latin America, with roots in Indigenous cultures, as well. People place photographs of their deceased loved ones on the altar, then honor them by bringing food and other items their loved ones enjoyed during their lifetime.
“It’s about remembering your loved ones and sharing what they enjoy, and providing it for them so when their souls come back to visit, they can share this time with their loved ones,” said Freddy León, centro director. “We are inviting the community, so whoever wants to put photos up can do so. We are also providing small notecards where people can write a message to their loved one and also put it on the ofrenda.”
In some parts of Mexico, León said, the celebration takes place at the cemetery, where people gather at the graves of their loved ones and bring food and beverages for them to enjoy.
The traditions behind Día de los muertos date back to pre-colonial Indigenous practices, though that Indigenous history is often missing from mainstream narratives about the holiday, said Luhui Whitebear, assistant professor of Indigenous studies and former center director of the kaku-ixt mana ina haws.
“What is important to remember is that Mexico is still part of North America and Indigenous lands as well,” she said. “The current way that Día de los muertos has been expressed with the large community ofrenda on campus arose from student staff at the kaku-ixt mana ina haws to help bring awareness about the Indigenous foundations of current-day celebrations from their own lived and cultural connections to this celebration.”
Since students at both cultural centers come from communities and regions that celebrate Día de los muertos, the two teamed up to carry on their traditions and share the holiday’s history with the general campus community, Whitebear said.
The ofrenda at PRAx will include specific traditional decorations: marigolds, candles to represent fire (though the ones at PRAx will be flameless for safety), ceramic dishes to represent earth and glasses of water.
The ofrenda will also have the traditional pan de muerto, a type of round sweet bread topped with sugar, and León said the Centro team is working with the Memorial Union Teaching Kitchen to prepare champurrado, a hot drink similar to hot chocolate but with added corn masa that thickens the liquid.
There will be a station at PRAx for people to write notes to their ancestors, and another to decorate calaveras, or sugar skulls.
“It feels good to have some visibility and to have support because Día de los muertos is not a new thing and the students who are planning this are descendants of our ancestors who taught us these important traditions,” León said. “They’re carrying on their families’ legacies but also they’re carrying on the wisdom that comes with these celebrations.”
The most important lesson León hopes to impart with the event is the centrality of family in Latin American culture.
“I hope that folks gain a better understanding of why we celebrate this, and the symbolism behind every single aspect of the celebration,” he said. “It’s coming together and being with family, with our loved ones and their spirits who are no longer here physically. It’s a way for us to not only remember but also keep their memory alive.”
This year’s ceremony will also include space to honor people who may be unfamiliar to those in attendance but are remembered all the same: There will be an arch memorializing missing and murdered Indigenous people, and another displaying toe tags from Hostile Terrain 94, the treacherous stretch of Arizona border where many migrants have died. The toe tags come from a national exhibit on Hostile Terrain 94, which the centro brought to OSU last year.
“It’ll be a good way to not only be in community but also to honor the folks who are no longer with us, some of whom are not identified unfortunately,” León said. “We want to keep their memory alive, as well.”
To cap the week, PRAx is hosting Las Cafeteras for a sold-out performance of “Hasta La Muerte” (“until death”) on Nov. 4. The Los Angeles-based Afro-Mexican musical group also performed at PRAx last year, but this two-act production adds a theatrical element as the group explores the stages of grief and loss through the celebration of life and death.
(While tickets are sold out, people who still wish to attend can try the standby line; for all its events so far, PRAx has been able to accommodate everyone who gets to the standby line before the start time.)
“We’re excited that this is happening at PRAx this year and we’re looking forward to seeing folks and being in community with other people,” León said.
By Molly Rosbach
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