By: Nick Spagnola 

The annual Dia de los Muertos event returned for its 15th year at Cal Poly Pomona, taking place on Thursday, Nov. 12. This year’s event was sponsored by a slew of organizations, namely the Cesar E. Chavez center for Higher Education, MultiCultural Council, La Union, Ethnic and Women’s Studies Department, Office of Student Life and Cultural Centers, Xicano/Latino Heritage Month, and LFSSA.

This year’s turnout was one of the largest the event has seen in its 15-year history at CPP. The “Day of the Dead” focuses on gathering to pray for and remember friends and family members who have passed away. The night’s schedule included a precession led by Aztec dancers, live poetry presentations, and musical performances by La Santa Cecilia and others. Dr. Gilbert Cadena, Professor Corina Benavides and Cecilia Santiago were all recognized by the coordinators of the event for their dedication and commitment to this and past Dia de los Muertos celebrations.

In the true spirit of the night, University Park was full of vibrant altars dedicated to honoring the deceased. One of the most elaborate of the altars was done by Lambda Theta Phi, Latin Fraternity, Inc. and focused on a colorful celebration of the lives of the since-gone family members of the fraternity members. Sergio Hernandez, an active member of the organization and current ASI BEAT secretary of programs said, “Since Dia de los Muertos is supposed to be a celebration of life, we wanted to design our altar around a very colorful celebration. We wanted to celebrate our family members’ lives as heroes and appreciate who they were.”

This years emcees were Ivan Montano and Alfonso Villegas, who headed the Dia de los Muertos committee together. Villegas said the success of this year’s event was because he was able to use the experience he gained working last year to run the planning process more quickly and more efficiently. He also commented on how the excited attitude of the first-time members of the committee proved to be very helpful.

Montano stated that this year he made a concentrated effort to include more spoken word and poetry into the performance schedule. He said it made him very happy to see students step up and help create that new connection with the celebration. Overall the two students felt that the awareness of other cultures and traditions brought on through this event allowed students to come together more as a community, something with which everyone in attendance could agree.

For more information on Dia de los Muertos, please contact the Caesar E. Chavez Center for Higher Education at (909) 869-5035, or visit http://dsa.csupomona.edu/cesarchavez.