Atop a makeshift altar with rosaries, photographs and cookies, Meriza Candia placed a photograph of her great grandfather José Audon Marquez, who died last year.
Candia, the vice president of UF’s Mexican American Student Association, planned Wednesday’s Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, celebration for UF students to remember and celebrate the lives of their lost loved ones. Students celebrated the holiday from noon until 5 p.m. with Abuelita Mexican hot chocolate, sugar skulls and pan de dulce in the Reitz Union.
“My grandfather was like my best friend,” Candia said. “It makes me sad he’s not going to see me graduate, but I have this picture up of him and his wife in my room because it makes me remember one of the reasons why I am doing this.”
Día de los Muertos is a cultural and religious holiday in Mexican culture and is special to many students, said Candia, a 22-year-old UF political science senior.
During the event, students cut their own papel picado, which are intricate designs cut into thin pieces of paper. About 150 people attended the celebration, Candia said.
The Hispanic Student Association and UF Hispanic-Latino Affairs donated to the event to cover the cost of food, Candia said. The total cost was about $150.
She said the altar used to honor the dead, where students put photos of their passed loved ones, will be up until Friday in the Hispanic-Latino Affairs suite.
The Mexican American Student Association has hosted the celebration before for their club members but this year wanted it on a larger scale, Candia said.
“We wanted to make sure that people understood it is just not Halloween for us,” she said. “This is actually a big cultural and religious holiday for us.”
One of the main decorations for the holiday is the vibrant skulls and crosses, she said.
“In the Día de los Muertos tradition the skulls are not supposed to be scary or spooky,” she said. “It is supposed to be the representation of the life of the persons that lived. That’s why a lot of the skulls that we have on display have the bright colors on them.”
Cristian Laureano, a 21-year-old UF criminology senior, came to celebrate the life of his older brother and his grandmother, who both passed away. Laureano placed his brother’s wooden rosary and his grandmother’s crystal rosary on the altar alongside the other decorations.
Laureano has celebrated Day of the Dead in Mexico and said it was a huge celebration with parades, music and people on stilts.
“It is nothing but music and dancing and food,” he said. “People carry the big baskets full of gifts that they are going to leave at the cemetery. It is really beautiful.”
Jose Audon Marquez, who died in April 2016, smiles with his wife. Meriza Candia, vice president of the Mexican American Student Association, put out the photo for the Day of the Dead, a religious holiday.
