Spanish speaking leaders from Voices and Visions taught, shared, and celebrated one of their favorite traditions with the Lopez community last week: Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
From the outside this ancient tradition, reaching as far back as the Aztecs, can seem a tad macabre. We aren’t accustomed to talking about and celebrating death in the U.S. But we learned that the roots of this contemporary celebration extend more than 3,00 years back to pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.
Honoring the dead, the Aztecs and other Nahua people living in what is now central Mexico held a cyclical view of the universe, and saw death as an integral, ever-present part of life.
According to tradition, the gates between the living and the afterlife open between October 31st and November 2nd, allowing spirits to join their families for a 24-hour period of food, sharing and celebration.
Community members were invited to build and present altars for their loved ones. Members from the Spanish speaking community served handmade tamales and warm cups of atole, a typical corn-based beverage with hints of cinnamon and vanilla. Some came dressed as Catrina, the dame of the dead, while others simply came to decorate sugar skull cookies and partake in this rich tradition that we hope will continue to grow and thrive with in our community.
"It is so important for us to be able to do this! I grew up with this tradition, but my children were born here in the United States. This was the first year
I could share my heritage with them."
We are so grateful the youth leaders of La Cima Lopez who helped coordinate activities to Spanish Teach Al Torres for engaging Lopez Island School’s youth, to the team of ladies who tirelessly made tamales and kept the atole warm and to all the men, woman and children that came together to make this celebration happen. Thank you for sharing your roots with us. May this too become a tradition in time.