Created by Lupita Marchan’s Spanish II students, these Day-of-the-Dead posters were on display today at River Rock Coffee & Tea in downtown St. Peter.
Posing with them is Michelle Rose Sargent of Cleveland, who works at the bistro.
Made by students from Saint Peter High School and Gustavus Adolphus College and by local businesses, altars honoring the Day of the Dead were also on display in other locations around St. Peter: the St. Peter Food Co-op, El Agave restaurant, Family Fresh grocery store, the St. Peter Public Library and Gustavus’ Christ Chapel.
Day of the Dead (Spanish: el Día de los Muertos) is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2.
It is widely observed in Mexico, where it largely developed, and it is also commonly celebrated in the US, especially by people of Mexican heritage.
Although related to the simultaneous Christian remembrances for the triduum of All Saints’ Eve (Halloween), All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, Day of the Dead has a much less solemn tone and is portrayed as a holiday of joyful celebration rather than mourning.
Traditions associated with Day of the Dead include honoring the deceased using representations of the human skeleton or skull and marigold flowers, building home altars with the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these items as gifts to the deceased.
But the celebration is not only focused on the departed. It is also common on the Day of the Dead to give gifts to friends, like candies shaped in the form of a skeleton or skull.