“A mi abuelita le gustaba Coca Cola.”
9th Grade Spanish students this week visited the San José State University Library’s 26th Annual Art of Remembrance exhibit on Día de Muertos, created in partnership with local artists and the Africana, Asian American, Chicano & Native American Studies Center. The multimedia exhibit features many elements of this ritual—dedicated to honoring loved ones who have passed away—that students have been studying back on campus in Spanish 2 classes this week. On the walk to the exhibit, students shared with peers and their teacher about individuals and pets in their own lives who have passed away and whose names, stories, interests, and memories live on through our re-telling and re-thinking of them. At the exhibit, students explored 13-foot-tall skeletons, clothing items, photos from around Central America, paintings, sculptures and items of significance from community members’ honorees, including opportunities to take a piece of dried sage and to leave a note of remembrance on an interactive ofrenda.
On the walk to the exhibit, students shared with peers and their teacher about individuals and pets in their own lives who have passed away and whose names, stories, interests, and memories live on through our re-telling and re-thinking of them.
Back on our campus, students revisited a read-aloud they have been re-enacting as a group about a gathering of friends and relatives assembling their own ofrenda. In the re-telling of the story, each student takes on a part, sharing something they fondly remember and placing an item. Our classroom has its own ofrenda, with food, decor, photographs, flowers and candles their teacher has assembled. As students assembled the ofrenda, they practice not only their Spanish vocabulary and verb tenses, but also bring to life, matching their words with actions, this tradition celebrated in many countries around the world. For some, it was a moving experience connecting to and sharing about their own families. For others, it was a window into a practice that unites many people in memorializing and sharing about death and the world of the dead.