Big photo: SALSA creates a community altar for students to write notes to deceased loved ones with sugar coals and other decorations. Little photo: Latina culture is displayed at the Commons plaza. Photos by Gerrie LimJordan McGill - Staff Writer
jmcgill@uab.edu


On Thursday, Nov. 3, students celebrated Dia de los Muertos with an event hosted by the Spanish and Latino Student Association.


Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday honoring the dead and celebrating their spiritual journey into the afterlife.


The Dia de los Muertos celebration lasted all day with an altar for honoring loved ones set up from 10-4 p.m. and a party with free food and music later that evening.


Brianneth Alvarado, president of the Spanish and Latino Student Association (SALSA), helped run and organize the event. Alvarado, a senior who studies kinesiology, said that she thinks that the Day of the Dead celebration will “improve cultural awareness about a different Latin background” for students around campus.


“I feel like a lot of students have heard about it in their Spanish class, but they haven’t actually experienced or seen what it’s about,” Alvarado said. “[By] bringing this altar to campus they even get to experience what [the holiday] is.”


Students had the opportunity to post notes to their loved ones on the altar in order to honor and remember them. The notes included messages to family members and close friends.


Traditional Spanish food was served in the evening, including a special bread for the celebration of the Day of the Dead.


“This is a bread that we only have for this event,” Alvarado said. “It is decorated with bones at the top and a little ball which represents the skull. Basically, this bread embodies what the souls are that we’re celebrating.”


Alvarado reflected on the large Latino demographic in Birmingham and what she felt was a lacking representation of the culture on campus. By hosting these celebrations and spreading cultural awareness around campus, she hopes the Latino community will have a greater presence.


Vini Fuentes is a junior management major who helped organize the event. He said that he believes it’s important to learn more about new cultures as an international student from Mexico.


“Hispanics and Latinos are one of the biggest minorities in the United States,” Fuentes said. “I think there’s no harm about learning new cultures and we’re willing to teach others about our culture. I love when people ask me questions about Mexico, about Spanish or [any] questions about my country.”


The SALSA organization is an inclusive organization without requirements to join.


“Not everybody is strictly Latino or Spanish,” Fuentes said. “You don’t have to be [Hispanic] to be a part of the organization, just like the culture a little bit or be interested in the culture.”


Briana Auhing, a sophomore music education major, is a general body member of SALSA and joined the organization as a way to stay connected with her cultural heritage.


“My dad’s from Ecuador, but there aren’t many places to speak Spanish and really interact with Spanish culture here on campus,” Auhing said. “I think we need to generate more interest in the general population even among people who aren’t Hispanic because there aren’t that many people who are Hispanic on campus.”


The Day of the Dead gives a unique cultural perspective on death and may allow one to look at the idea of death differently than before.


“Death is sort of universal and unites us, and I think it’s important for people to consider another way of looking at death,” Auhing said. “The Americanized version of death is very sad [and] weepy, and the Hispanic view of it is a lot more celebratory [as] you’re celebrating that person’s life and what they’ve done and I think that’s really helpful to cultivate a world perspective.”


For more information on SALSA, visit their Facebook page @uabsalsa.