UAlbany Students Celebrate Lost Loved Ones with Day of the Dead Altars
By Bethany Bump
ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 31, 2023) — On a recent evening after class, UAlbany senior Desire Jimenez carried a box of colorful banners, orange paper marigolds strung on to garlands and hand-painted styrofoam skulls into the Humanities Building and began placing them in a glass display case at the West entrance.
Her final touch was to place three photos of deceased loved ones inside — her uncle Franklin, her partner’s brother Frankeli, and her sister’s father Francis.
Other students added their own photos and decorations to the display case, which is one of a handful of colorful altars, or ofrendas, being set up around campus in celebration of the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), a holiday widely observed in Mexico and Hispanic cultures around Nov. 1 each year. The creation of altars decorated with photos and offerings to the dead is a core component of the holiday and a way of celebrating and remembering those who have passed on.
“My mother always says, remember your loved one with a smile and not with a tear,” said Jimenez, who is majoring in cybersecurity and Spanish and also serves as vice president of the Spanish Club, which led the construction of the altar.
Jimenez grew up in the Dominican Republic and watched her mother light a candle and pray to a picture of her deceased brother every Nov. 1 in honor of All Saints’ Day, a Christian holiday that similarly honors the dead. Her mother would update her brother on the events of the past year, share milestones she was proud of, and tell him she missed him.
“Growing up, my mother always showed us that just because we have a loved one that is dead, it doesn't mean that we have to forget them,” Jimenez said. “Just because they're dead doesn't mean that they're gone. You still have the memories that you had with that person when that person was alive. So they're still with you.”
Brenna Schilling, a senior majoring in Spanish, heard about the Day of the Dead altars and was inspired to add her own offering — a photo of her friend Destiny, who was murdered in 2021.
While Schilling has never celebrated Day of the Dead before, she was glad to participate this year by placing a physical reminder of her friend in the building where she attends most of her classes.
“Her brother goes here and one of her best friends goes here and I was really close with her, so I thought it would be nice to have something for us to walk by and see,” she said. “It lets you think about all the good things about the person and just remember the person in general, the good times and the things that she liked and the memories we shared.”
The creation of altars around campus is supported by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures; the Department of Latin American, Caribbean & U.S. Latino Studies; the Spanish Program; and the Humanities Labs Project at UAlbany.
Members of the campus community are encouraged to join in the celebration and add their own pictures of lost loved ones to the colorful altars, organizers said.
On Monday afternoon, the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies led the construction of another altar at the north entrance of the Arts and Sciences building.
Jimenez, who said she was recently asked after a Spanish Club presentation about the holiday whether it was appropriate for those from other cultures to join in and celebrate, said she wants everyone to feel comfortable participating.
“Just because you don't come from a culture doesn't mean that you cannot share with that culture,” she said. “Everyone can appreciate their deceased loved ones. Just because they're not Mexican or just because they're not Hispanic doesn't mean they cannot share with us. This is for everyone.”