Day of the Dead Latino student group at SRU offers showcase
SLIPPERY ROCK — They call it “Día de los Muertos” — the Day of the Dead — but it's really a celebration of life.
Día de los Muertos is observed Nov. 1 throughout Latin America, although it began in Mexico where indigenous Aztec rituals were blended with the Catholicism brought to the region by Spanish conquistadores.
It will also be celebrated this week at Slippery Rock University where a Latino student group will perform its sixth annual Day of the Dead Showcase Tuesday at the Robert M. Smith Student Center's ballroom on the SRU campus.
Christine Pease-Hernandez, an assistant professor of communication and adviser of the group Student Organization of Latinos, Hispanics and Allies, or SOL, said tradition holds the dead would be insulted by mourning or sadness.
Instead, she said, Día de los Muertos highlights the lives of the deceased with food, drink, parties, and all the activities the dead enjoyed in life.
“Día de los Muertos recognizes death as a natural part of the human experience,” Pease-Hernandez said.
Ignacio Cisneros Jr., the president of SOL, said, “The Day of the Dead Showcase is a cultural event here at Slippery Rock University celebrating the lives of loved ones who have passed on.
“We are collaborating with different organizations on campus to put on a performance consisting of various models, dancers and twirlers as well, to kind of showcase the Hispanic culture across campus in a way that is entertaining and exciting for the student body,” he said.Carla Cintron, a senior biology major from Grove City and vice president of SOL, called the upcoming showcase a blend of a fashion show, dancing, modeling and short performances.“They are acting out skits based on folk tales. The costumes are based on folk tales,” Cintron said. “It's kind of like a fashion show, but a little more dramatic. They have to act like their characters when they walk on stage.”“It's an event that brings awareness of an important Hispanic celebration through story and dance in an artistic manner,” Pease-Hernandez said.Cintron and Cisneros will act as emcees of the showcase which featurs seven enactments through dance and music of Hispanic folk tales or myths.Ian Arteaga, a junior creative writing major who will narrate the stories before the performances, said the stories being performed this year include El Cuco, La Llorona and Sante Muerte.Arteaga said El Cuco is a Latin American boogeyman used to warn misbehaving children that El Cuco will carry them away and eat them if they don't listen to their parents.
Pease-Hernandez said La Llorona, “The Weeping Woman,” is one of the most famous Latin legends.“A woman gets together with a ranchero, or cowboy, and has two children by him,” she said relating one version of the story.“After awhile, he only visits the kids, and she finds out he is with another woman,” she said. “She drowns the children and herself.“She's condemned to wander the rivers looking for her children and often causes misfortune to those that come near her,” said Pease-Hernandez.Pease-Hernandez said another performance will center on Sante Muerte, a saint in Mexican and Mexican-American folk Catholicism. A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees“We use these stories as a way to communicate very special aspects of specific cultures and the students are able to share art through dance and story telling,” Pease-Hernandez said.Cintron said the dance's choreography is a group effort by the members of SOL, who spent a recent afternoon in the Morrow Field House practicing their routines.Cintron, who is Puerto Rican, said she joined SOL to find other Hispanics.“I thought I would fit in the club well with other Hispanics like me,” she said.
Cisneros, who has a Mexican father and an Italian mother, said, “Growing up, I always had a close connection with father's culture. I traveled back and forth to Mexico.”“I went to a diverse high school, and I found SOL when I came here,” he said.“I feel that it is important to educate students on campus about cultures other than their own,” said Cisneros.Cintron noted Día de los Muertos is seeping into the American culture.“It's becoming part of the mainstream because we are seeing it in Target and TJ Maxx. You can see the sugar skulls for sale,” she said.Pease-Hernandez said of the upcoming showcase, “It is a very important event for us because we want to spread Latino culture to the university and the community.“The other wonderful thing I like about Day of the Dead is that it is a way to bring our entire community together,” she said.“What I really appreciate about the event is that it offers our students an opportunity to come together from many, many diverse backgrounds,” she said.“We have international students that participate in our event. We have students from different races from different areas across the country that come to be part of this event. It is a wonderful community builder,” she said.<iframe width="100%" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cgFaQYgfISI?rel=0&showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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