How UC Irvine celebrated Día de los Muertos

Nov

2024

Among the featured artists at the second annual UC Irvine Día de los Muertos were the Mariachi Divas, Ballet Folklorico de UCI, Tlacopan Aztec dancers, Anaheim elementary student folklorico dancers and Claudia de la Cruz. Photos by Karen Tapia

More than 1,200 attend second annual event

More than 1,200 people of all ages converged on UC Irvine to celebrate the School of Social Ecology’s second annual Día de los Muertos, a lively event punctuated with mariachi music, dance, ceremony, painted faces and an altar commemorating lost loved ones.

The School of Social Ecology hosted the event in and around Irvine Barclay Theatre as a way of honoring its Latino students and culture.

“I am proud that nearly half of our students — 45% — are Latino,” Dean Jon Gould told the crowd, which responded with cheers and applause. “We dedicate this event to our Latino community and heritage.”

Honoring the deceased was the point of the event, a tradition that has indigenous roots as a celebration of Mictecacihuatl, the Aztec goddess of death, according to colonial period records. It is believed that she ruled the underworld and watched over the bones of the dead, which the Aztecs thought were a source of life in the next world.

“Over the centuries, the core purpose of Día de los Muertos has remained unchanged,” Manuel Gomez, UC Irvine emeritus vice chancellor for student affairs told the gathering after Tlacopan, an Aztec dance group based in Orange County, performed the event’s opening ceremony. “The purpose is to celebrate, commemorate and remember our ancestors, their sacrifices and their love. This is what makes this celebration such a culturally significant event.”

The Grammy Award-winning Mariachi Divas headlined the event. They also headlined last year's event that received The Council for Advancement and Support of Education's prestigious Grand Gold Award as well as the organization’s Best of District VII Award. Other performers at this year's event included the Ballet Folklorico de UCI, Mariachi Orgullo de UCI, Claudia de la Cruz Flamenco and students from Madison Elementary School of Santa Ana’s Ballet Folklorico and Stoddard Elementary School of Anaheim’s Mariachi.

“When I attended UC Irvine as a pre-med student years ago, there were only a handful, relatively speaking, of Latinos in the student population, at least in my school,” said attendee Yve Ruiz. “Acceptance, even encouragement of celebrating cultural diversity was at a very different level back then. It was an amazing experience to see how things have evolved since then.”

Another alumna agreed.

“It was wonderful to see the intergenerational connections,” said Claudia Caro Sullivan, project director of early childhood tinkering programs at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. “Seeing the little kids and the older students dancing and expressing their heritage artistically and connecting themselves to the community, not just to the Latino community but to the UCI community, was inspiring. For me, when I was a social sciences undergrad here in 1992, there just wasn’t that kind of vibrancy.”

The event’s sponsors this year included Northgate González Market and 16 UC Irvine schools and units — the Office of Inclusive Excellence, University Advancement & Alumni Relations, the Latinx Resource Center, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, School of Education, School of Medicine, School of Social Sciences, Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences, Samueli School of Engineering, School of Physical Sciences, School of Humanities, School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Law, Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, the Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning and the Graduate Division.

Oscar González, Northgate’s CEO, UC Irvine Trustee and a member of the UCI-OC Alliance, told attendees how meaningful the event is for him as the 13th son of immigrant parents.

“I’m very grateful that I am here today, the first to obtain higher education,” he said. “My parents came here in the 1960s and their priority was to provide food and shelter, and education was a luxury. It wasn’t really a priority. But, I’m here today because of their sacrifice. And, for us at Northgate Markets, food and culture and elevating our Mexican heritage is very, very important. So, Día de los Muertos is a huge celebration for many of us who come from Latin American countries. This event lines up very beautifully for us and our family. I can't tell you how much it means to me.”

Northgate donated and served hundreds of tamales, pan de muerto and gallons of champurrado at the event.

The crowd was treated to an hour-long concert by the Mariachi Divas, whose leader Cindy Shea opened with a special message:

“This Día de los Muertos is extra heartfelt for me this year as it marks the first year without both of my parents. Because of the lifetime of support they gave me through music and Mariachi Divas, I’m able to keep them alive through memories and the love they shared with me. I feel them in the audience with me. I feel the love from the families here united together, celebrating the lives of their loved ones. I am truly grateful to UC Irvine for having the Divas perform on such a special night.”

Photos of Shea’s parents, along with individual dedications from their daughter, were shown at the event on television screens next to the colorful physical altar erected by students, led by Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán (MEChA). It was the centerpiece of the event in the theater’s lobby.

The purpose of the altar, said MEChA president Bianca DiVerde, is to “honor our loved ones.”

The sociology and Chicano/Latino studies major said the moving display helped attendees think about their deceased loved ones and think about those outside their own families and communities.

“We were able to grieve collectively,” DiVerde said. “In a world where events become commercialized, it is really important for us to focus on the lives we’ve lost and really think about the meaning of life.”

Gomez encapsulated that sentiment with his poem, “La Rama Morena (The Bronze Branch),” which he recited in Spanish:

Anoche murió mi triste flor
La muerte vino como
Una mujer llorando
Y me llevo para
Adentro la tierra
Tan hondo me llevo
Que se me olvido
El tiempo en silencio eterno
Sin recuerdos
Sin sueños
Qué saco con hundirme
En La muerte
Mi carne podrida
Mis huesos de polvo
Que Viva La Raza
Grita El Sol
Mientras La Muerte
Escucha
Yo
Escucho mi sangre
Canto verde
Esta noche cansada
Canto del campesino
Que siembra semillas
De su corazón
En el surco de la Revolución
Y el tiempo tiembla
Con sangre y esperanza
También La tierra
Tiene su venganza
Así como mi madre
Despertaba en la madrugada
Todavía oscuro
Floreció el Movimiento
La Tierra tembló
Y grito Huelga
Las palabras salieron como piedras
Y la dulce risa del río del tiempo
Dice Basta
Unidos canta el viento
Y las raíces vomitan sangre
Mientras El Sol
Como mi Padre
Muere de hambre.
Somos solo una rama
Solo una Raza Humana
Que lucha y ama