Students were given an opportunity to experience some Spanish culture Thursday evening at the Dia De Los Muertos (Day of The Dead) event hosted by LASSO and the University Board in the Cultural Center.

The Dia De Los Muertos event contained an assortment of activities for students to participate in. Skull art, face painting and paper mask designing were all the different festivities available at the event. The organizations also provided pan de muerto (bread of the dead), Canela (tea) and Chocolate Abuelitas in order to make the celebration of the holiday more realistic.

Along with the food and festivities, members from LASSO also gave students a brief history on what Dia De Los Muertos actually represented.

Although the word dead is in the title of the holiday, Liz Arreola, the president of LASSO, said this day is used more so to celebrate the life that the dead has lived.

In order to give an example of how some people may celebrate Dia De Los Muertos, the collaborating organizations placed an altar in front of the room and on top of the altar was several different picture frames.

“The picture frames normally contain pictures of the dead in order to commemorate them,”Arreola said.

LASSO decided to collaborate with the UB with their annual Dia De Los Muertos event this year in order to reach out to more of the masses on campus, Arreola said.

Arreola also said she handed fliers out the foreign language departments just to get more people involved and educated on Dia De Los Muertos.

Culture education played a key role in hosting this event.

Daniel Guerrero, a junior Spanish major, was sent to this event by one of his foreign language professors in order to learn more about the culture itself.

Having grown up with a Spanish background Guerrero said, “This event definitely meets the bar for an actual Dia de Los Muertos celebration.”

Dia De Los Muertos offered those unfamiliar with the Spanish culture a chance to come celebrate and be apart of a simulation of how Dia de Los Muertos is celebrated in Mexico.

Spanish music also played a factor in this celebration. The music was kept upbeat and fast paced intentionally throughout the event, Areola said.

“Even though we are celebrating the dead we want it to be a happy event because it is a representation of the life of a loved one.”

Kevin Hall can be reached at 581-2812 or kphall@eiu.edu.