Many believe that the barrier between life and the afterlife is thinnest on Halloween, but for people of Southern Mexico and throughout their diaspora, that’s an actual religious belief, the spirits of the dead returning on the night of November first.
The holiday comes from the Catholic tradition of All Saints’ Day and indigenous Mexicans’ beliefs about the afterlife, putting great value on honoring the dead. Tonight, many traditions were followed, such as the painting of sugar skulls, meant to represent the souls of the dead.
Many visiting enjoyed making the colorful artwork, regardless of whether they intended to honor anyone. They also engaged in other fun activities, such as coloring and face painting to resemble skeletons, which many of our more playful students enjoyed.
Sophomore Allison Zayago took the opportunity to learn a new skill, painting on many interested students, despite each one taking about ten minutes to complete.
Art was a big theme as well, with multiple items of student artwork on display, such as paintings of skulls, where the students included several different pop-culture references, and their creatively drawn depictions of alebrijes, relatively recent but popular creations of brightly colored animal hybrids.
Many of these and other art pieces were created in the classroom of Visual Arts teacher Angennette Escobar, who was instrumental in making Dia de Los Muertos an annual tradition at Wilsonville, starting in 2014. She decided to do this to help the “growing Latino population of students,” practice something “important to them.” This isn’t pandering, she intended students of all backgrounds to relate, as “everyone loses someone” and “we can all remember it together.”
The main event of the night took place in our theater, with several group performances of traditional Mexican dances. The dancers did well for their young age, especially at exciting their audience and coach.
One thing that none who saw it will ever forget was a performance with children and men in demon masks and horse-legs, the whole theater hearing the sound of one actor’s whip.
There was plenty of music, making it hard for this reporter to get interviews, first the veteran eight-member group Mariachi viva Mexico and the Latin-infused pop rock group Los Invicieles.
The main theme of honoring the dead was not forgotten, an altar, known as an ofrenda, was prominently placed, with food left as offerings, and photos of deceased loved ones and celebrities. (no Harambe though.)
Dia De Los Muertos is of course an experience every Wilsonville High Student should have, this year no exception.