by Nathan Hunt |

If a student walked down the foreign language hallway, they would see a table full of little paper mache skeletons and sugar skulls. But have no fear, these are not meant to be morbid cadavers from some horror film. These figures represent the likes of Steve Jobs, Albus Dumbledore and loved ones who have passed. Whether a celebrity or family member, these all are made by Spanish III and IV classes for the Hispanic holiday, The Day of the Dead.
Spanish III creates sugar skeletons, purely out of sugar. While they might be edible, most students choose not to eat them, choosing instead to have their art admired by all who pass through the foreign language hallway. The students paint the skulls different colors and patterns to express themselves. Creating sugar skulls has been done for many years as a part of the requirements for the class. Although this might not be very closely related to the Day of the Dead, it helps students connect to Hispanic culture.
“It is supposed to be a celebration of the lives of family members who have passed away. It’s a day of remembrance and celebrating lives, it’s not supposed to be sad or scary,” junior Taylor Gibson said. The advanced language students get to make a whole project out of this holiday.
“It’s a 70 point project. You memorize six facts about the person and present it to the class in Spanish,” junior Shelby Murtha said. The Day of the Dead is celebrated throughout all Hispanic countries. Mexico, Spain and Central America in general are all examples of places in the world where this holiday is celebrated. It might not always look the same in every country.
“This is primarily something celebrated in the Americas; in Spain the tradition is to celebrate All Souls Day. They go to mass on November first, but in the Americas, specifically in Mexico, it is fused with the indigenous culture, so the Aztec culture or pre-Hispanic culture also celebrated the Day of the Dead,” teacher Profe Stolwyk said.
Students describe who they made in remembrance for The Day of the Dead.
“It was just fun to remember the good things about what my grandma did, that’s who my skeleton was,” senior Morgan Osborne said. Different objects were to be brought by the student to personalize their skeleton even further.
“We had to bring three things, it was a requirement. I brought cotton balls for her hair, stencils to paint when she died and puzzle pieces because she would do puzzles with us,” Osborne said. While some did a family member, others created celebrities to commemorate.
“I made a dead basketball player, my parents chose it for me,” Murtha said. Whether it is personal or impersonal, every student made and presented their own skeleton to the class. With The Day of the Dead over, we will have to wait another year to see what other skeletons are created to remember those who have passed, in the process, learning a lot about Hispanic culture.