2008 Woodie Awards
Celebration of dead at UNC
Heather Hartz
Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
At every alter there sat a candle, a piece of bread, flowers and the name of the departed.
Twenty-three separate alters were set up in a room half full of wandering people at the Cesar Chavez Cultural Center on Monday. Arielle Park and Holly Wilson stood beside their alters, which were dedicated to Mexican artist Frieda Kahlo, who died in 1954.
"We had to work in groups of four to create our own alter for our Hispanic Studies class," said Wilson, a freshman elementary education major. "Professor (Priscilla) Falcon assigned us a topic and we've been working for about two weeks to finish this up."
Each item on the alter represents something meaningful.
"The candles are representative of sending the light on to the dead, " said Caitlin Haden, also a freshman elementary education major, who's alter showcased Hispanic poetry. "The poems are called calineros, or epitaphs. They're used to celebrate the lives of the dead."
The celebration is about more than death. It is about life and culture.
"That's one of the main differences between the Hispanic and European cultures," said Chris Garcia, the student supervisor at the Cesar Chavez Cultural Center. "The European culture fears death; the Hispanic culture celebrates life."
The Cesar Chavez Cultural Center puts on the Dia de los Muertos celebration every year to share the Hispanic culture with the UNC campus. On Monday, the center invited Ramon del Castillo, a poet, to come to the center and read what he called remembrance poems.
"Dia de los Muertos actually takes place on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2, but we put on a whole week to raise awareness of the holiday," Garcia said. "It has its roots in the Aztec culture, which celebrates life rather than death."
All events put on by the Cesar Chavez Cultural Center are open to everyone and are free of cost.
Twenty-three separate alters were set up in a room half full of wandering people at the Cesar Chavez Cultural Center on Monday. Arielle Park and Holly Wilson stood beside their alters, which were dedicated to Mexican artist Frieda Kahlo, who died in 1954.
"We had to work in groups of four to create our own alter for our Hispanic Studies class," said Wilson, a freshman elementary education major. "Professor (Priscilla) Falcon assigned us a topic and we've been working for about two weeks to finish this up."
Each item on the alter represents something meaningful.
"The candles are representative of sending the light on to the dead, " said Caitlin Haden, also a freshman elementary education major, who's alter showcased Hispanic poetry. "The poems are called calineros, or epitaphs. They're used to celebrate the lives of the dead."
The celebration is about more than death. It is about life and culture.
"That's one of the main differences between the Hispanic and European cultures," said Chris Garcia, the student supervisor at the Cesar Chavez Cultural Center. "The European culture fears death; the Hispanic culture celebrates life."
The Cesar Chavez Cultural Center puts on the Dia de los Muertos celebration every year to share the Hispanic culture with the UNC campus. On Monday, the center invited Ramon del Castillo, a poet, to come to the center and read what he called remembrance poems.
"Dia de los Muertos actually takes place on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2, but we put on a whole week to raise awareness of the holiday," Garcia said. "It has its roots in the Aztec culture, which celebrates life rather than death."
All events put on by the Cesar Chavez Cultural Center are open to everyone and are free of cost.
Be the first to comment on this story