Sac State welcomes local students for Día de los Muertos celebrations on campus

By Jonathan Morales

01 November 2024

Nearly 60 fourth- and fifth-graders sat on the steps leading to the Guy West Bridge on Tuesday, colorfully decorating the outlines of sugar skulls to turn them into dolls.

Students were encouraged to later place a picture of a deceased relative under the skull so they could place the doll on the altar at school or at home, an important tradition during the Día de Los Muertos celebration.

The campus visit at Washington Elementary School was the latest engagement activity for the art teaching assistant Luis Garcia“Barrio Art in the Community” class. It was timed to coincide with the Sac State celebration of Dia de los Muertos.

“Touching their belongings, people in their families or friends they want to honor is a big part of (Barrio Art),” Garcia said. “This has a non-traditional approach to art, to education, where students bring their family knowledge to something small like this.”

In addition to visiting Washington Elementary, Garcia’s class greeted students from Hiram Johnson High School for Adults, who participated in Wednesday’s Día de Los Muertos parade and subsequent workshops on the Library Quad.

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a tradition widely celebrated in Mexican and Central American communities, October 28 – November 2, where family and friends gather to pay their respects to deceased loved ones. Following the procession from the front of campus to the Library Quad, the Sac State celebration featured a catrina fashion show, theater performance and marigold ceremony. The catrina – a female skeleton – and marigolds are important symbols of the holiday.

Garcia collaborated with Ethnic Studies teachers Jason Tena-Encarnacion, Nancy Huante and David Flores about the celebration and said their participation over the past two years has helped the annual tradition grow and flourish.

Lilia Contreras, University Hispanic Service Institution director, said the vacation is a way to “connect with our roots, but also with each other.”

“Día de los Muertos is an important holiday because it brings people together, promoting a sense of community and belonging,” she said. “On campus, this tradition can transform the space into a welcoming home away from home as students, staff and community members come together to honor and pay tribute to ancestors and loved ones.”

Sac State is a federally recognized Hispanic serving institution and recipient of the prestigious Seal of Excellence for his commitment to serving Latino students. About 38 percent of all Sac State students identify as Hispanic or Latino.

The idea behind Garcia’s “Barrio Art” course is to teach students how to use art to better engage and learn from the communities they serve. Enrolled in the classes are often aspiring teachers, and they learn how to develop curriculum that draws on what Garcia calls students’ “funds of knowledge”—the unique experiences and perspectives they bring to the classroom as individuals.

Tuesday marked the third time Garcia has brought students from Washington Elementary to Sac State, exposing them to life on a college campus. In addition to decorating the sugar skull, they also visited the University’s vivarium and watched a show at the planetarium. Garcia showed them too altars – altars – arranged in the Library Quad, which will be exhibited until November 3.

Andres Alvarez, year The Open University student who took “Barrio Art” as a prerequisite to enter a Sac State graduate program, was among several of his peers who helped Washington Elementary students with their art projects. As someone who hopes to pursue both art and teaching, he embraces the ethos behind the class.

“It’s a reminder that teaching is not a solitary thing. It’s not just engaging in a classroom. It is not one person dictating information to a group of many,” he said. “It’s really learning about who the community is, what the interests are, what the history is, and then incorporating that information and knowledge into the classroom. So, in a way, everyone becomes a teacher.”