On Saturday, October 8, OSU Latinx Studies Program faculty members partnered with Latino Arts for Humanity (LAH), to produce the vibrant annual Day of the Dead Columbus celebration that takes place at the historical Green Lawn Cemetery and sees about 3000 participants every fall. This year’s event featured several offerings from OSU’s students, faculty, and staff. Paloma Martinez-Cruz led her performance group Taco Reparations Brigade in a new piece titled Living Altars. The performers received specific training in a September workshop from eminent artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña’s award-winning performance troupe La Pocha Nostra, of which Martinez-Cruz is a core member.

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion sponsored literature booths, poetry workshops, and a coloring station for visitors of all ages. Leila Vieira coordinated a K-12 Brutus coloring contest that has seen over 400 entries. The generous support from the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Ethnic Studies, the Program of Latinx Studies, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the OSU Athletic Department, and the Departments of Spanish and Portuguese, Dance, and Theatre, Film and Media Arts and SPPO and CES staff all contributed to the day’s success.  

Día de los Muertos [Day of the Dead] is a cultural tradition predominantly celebrated in Mexico and Central America, as well as recently by Latinxs in the United States. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Mexica (Aztecs) engaged in month-long celebrations honoring the dead. Ever evolving, the tradition’s contemporary practitioners continue to reshape and redefine this ancient ritual of remembrance. At the heart of the tradition is a joyful celebration of life—both those in the present and those in past.