El Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican celebration that occurs on Nov. 3. At Channel Islands, the Spanish Club and the Foreign Language department worked together the month of October to plan out this celebration. Every year they plan out this event to honor the people who have passed away and to keep the tradition going.
Some things they did to get it started was working on tissue flowers for 2 weeks before the event. They also held a contest for this year’s t-shirt design so that they can print out the design on time and wear the shirts during the event. They had the students volunteer to bring drinks like soda or water. The Spanish teachers would also offer extra credit to those who helped out during the event.
Ms. Maria Duran, a Spanish teacher, had the Spanish club working on the flowers in her room during lunch. All the Spanish teachers had their students help out making the flowers during these two weeks as well, but they also had them make artwork or projects to showcase in the event like catrinas and paintings.
“We started talking first about the t-shirt design for this year’s event because each year there is a different design created by a student. This year’s t-shirt was designed by Mackenzie Chavez,” said Diego Alvarez, Spanish Club member.
The Spanish Club really went all-out with the decorations and activities. They contacted Radio Lazer, a popular radio station that usually plays hit Latin music. They also had participants which included CIHS Folklorico, Grupo la Influencia, Las Chinas Oaxaqueñas, Danza Matachines, Kaylanie Barrera, and Banda el Suspiro Sinaloense.
“The day of the event was the most stressful day because we had to decorate the quad, set up tables for food and games, and set up the altar in a limited time,” Alvarez said. “The altar came out beautiful and we had a sand artist come to do the t-shirt design in front of the altar with sand.”
The Language Department and Spanish Club members were very proud of the outcome of the event.
“It went really well. A lot of people showed up to celebrate with their families,” said Ashley Arenas, a Spanish Club member. “The performances were amazing and the event was very lively. The weeks before we were busy making the cempasuchil flowers that were hung on stage and also painting all the posters. We also had many booths with loteria, coloring, and face painting and sold tacos, aguas frescas and a lot more.”
