A look into Día De Los Muertos at BCHS

For nearly a decade, Boulder City High School has created a tradition in their Spanish Honors classes to build ofrendas in honor of the Spanish holiday, Día De Los Muertos also known as Day of the Dead.

Día De Los Muertos is a day of commemoration and an offering to those loved family members and pets who have passed on. This holiday has been celebrated worldwide for nearly three thousand years on November first and second. When cherished ones have passed, those who celebrate, build altars with flowers, candles, items they loved before passing, and most importantly, a photo of them. They build these altars so their relatives can cross over and visit them on this day.

Our honors and college level Spanish teacher, Jennifer Kendrick, has taken an approach to teaching not only how to speak Spanish, but the culture of it. For 9-10 years, Señora has kept the school tradition for her Spanish classes to build their own ofrenda. This year, they collaborated as a class to build these altars. These memorials are built for their very alive staff, having the class choose who they’d like to build one for. After they’ve chosen their teacher by voting as a class, having majority rule, they work together to get the supplies needed for the altar like flowers, photos, candles, boxes, and other sorts of decoration one would see on an altar for a passed loved one. Once the altars are ready, they will be judged on completion and presentability by other staff members who do not have an ofrenda or any sort of biased opinion. The winning class of whichever ofrenda the judges choose will either get extra credit on their next test or a piñata party!

This is a fun-loving assignment for the students. Dual Spanish student, Savannah Fecteau (11) states that “It is relieving doing a project like this with crafts and color in a college level class.” Even with more vocabulary and harder assignments in this advanced class, students are still able to have some enjoyable activities with their peers along with having more of a connection while learning about the culture. Fecteau also claimed she felt she was truly grieving the staff as if they have really passed on, which made her gain a lot of respect for those who celebrate. A select number of Boulder’s students are already connected with this culture and are aware of this tradition. Sophomore Seth Valencia and the rest of his Spanish 2 class worked a diligent amount on their altar for World History teacher, Mr. Donaldson. Seth spoke out on those who consider loved ones crossing over as a sort of myth. “I believe in it even though we don’t really get to physically see or hear them, we can feel that they’re there.”

Having the students build ofrendas gives the students the experience of other cultures in an exciting way. “I think understanding different ideas and cultures can be an amazing thing. They’re able to step outside the normal and into others’ beliefs!” Señora Kendrick exclaims. Señora wanted the students to benefit from this in the sense that they can see how other peoples’ traditions affect their lives and how they go about it. This project brought knowledge to the culture and brought students together in this collaborative project.

Día De Los Muertos is the day to honor and acknowledge those who have had an impact on our life and allow them to come and visit us. It is important to take note that this holiday is not necessarily a day of discouragement and grief, but of joy and celebration. Whether you have an ofrenda built in your house or if you go and visit a tombstone of a relative, the importance of these days is to reminisce and appreciate the ones whose souls were once and always there. Día De Los Muertos is a day to remember.