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| Nov. 2, 2010 |
Are you familiar with the holiday El Dia de los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead? You might think you’re familiar with this Mexican holiday because it’s often associated with Halloween, but it’s a completely separate holiday.
Tuesday, Alma Holiday and her Folkloric Dance Collaborative are putting together an exhibit to educate the community about the history and beauty of El Dia de los Muertos. The exhibit will be on the second floor of the Taylor Resource Center, located at the corner of Seventh and Davis streets from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
“The reason that we’re doing (this exhibit) is really based on the community,” Holiday said. “Ever since I started the folkloric group, which is going on two years, I’ve wanted to do a nice event for El Dia de los Muertos because some of the dances that we do are based on the holiday.”
She addressed this with the folkloric group, and many of the parents of the young children in the group encouraged the event because they wanted to teach their children the traditions associated with the holiday.
“In order to reach a broader (audience), I was going to integrate (the event) with Halloween, which is often done here in the United States, but I was losing the beauty of the holiday by doing that,” Holiday said.
El Dia de los Muertos is a celebration of loved ones that have died. Holiday’s father passed away earlier this year, which further prompted her to organize this event. When someone passes on, their godparents are supposed to be the ones that begin the celebration of El Dia de los Muertos for the first three years after their death.
“My family is doing that (for my father) now,” Holiday explained. “I want to honor him. I want to (celebrate) the right way because he is one of the main reasons I even got into folkloric dance.”
The exhibit will have a photo gallery, slide show and displays of traditional altars for the holiday.
“(El Dia de los Muertos) is... beautiful,” Holiday said. “It’s not the ghosts and goblins and all that.”
