Jenner Graff | jgraff5@uwsuper.edu
Día de los Muertos, better known as Day of the Dead in America, is a celebration on Nov. 1 and 2 that acts as a family reunion. However, in Latin American culture, it is to reunite and honor deceased family members.
The University of Wisconsin-Superior hosted a celebration in the Yellowjacket Union Shippar Atrium. The inaugural celebration was put together by the Intercultural Programming Council. Freshman Jada Surek is the event planner for the IPC.
Students were able to design shadow boxes intended to commemorate and honor their deceased loved ones.
Photo by Jenner Graff
“The primary goal was to spread awareness, engage, and educate people in the Latino culture,” said Surek. The IPC did an excellent job providing an accurate display of Día de los Muertos, as they had the traditional pan de Muertos, which is a circular, sweet fluffy bread with a sugary crust to symbolize the cycle of life and death.
Abuelita’s Authentic Mexican Hot Chocolate that is made in Mexico and has a rich flavor of chocolate, strong hints of cinnamon, and an assortment of spices. They also had shadow boxes for students to design, which are used to honor deceased loved ones.
Some students had very little knowledge of the Latin American holiday. Mingyu Kim, a freshman at UW-Superior, said, “I came to just hang out and I thought there might be some sort of dancing.” Although there wasn’t any dancing going on during the event, there was plenty of socializing happening as students created their own shadow box while enjoying the pan de Muertos and hot chocolate provided by the IPC.
The IPC isn’t done with events for the week; Friday, Nov. 1, they will be hosting a celebration for Diwali, the Hindu “Festival of Lights.” The Diwali celebration will take place at the Yellowjacket Union Great Room from 5-8 p.m. and it will be free for UW-Superior students to attend.