Celebration brings altars, skulls, cars

Kids came to paint sugar skulls for the altar while their parents looked at the car and bike show and listened to live music.

The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC), in partnership with ACC's The Big Read, hosted about 500 members of the community at the Dia de los Muertos Celebration on Oct. 30.

"It's cool that they got so many activities for kids," said Adam Leyendecker. "There's more stuff to do than just look at cars."

Still, Leyendecker came for the car show.

He brought his candy orange tangerine 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. It has 28-inch rims, a 10-inch lift, a 350 motor, Lamborghini doors, an alligator ragtop and a three piece train horn.

"Man it's loud," said Leyendecker.

Leyendecker is a carpenter by trade. He decided that he could do the same thing with a car that he did with wood. He bought a Buick Regal for $400, fixed it up, and sold it for $9,000. With that money he bought the Cutlass Supreme.

Leyendecker expressed his appreciation for the versatility of the celebration.

People from throughout the community built a variety of altars for the event. Altars are traditionally associated with Dia de los Muertos.

A group of ACC students lead by ACC administrative assistant Margot Rochon constructed one of the altars. Theirs was made to honor the Mirabal sisters from the historical novel "In the Time of Butterflies," by Julia Alvarez.

From the start Rochon had one clear idea for what she wanted in the altar.

"I love the idea of butterflies," said Rochon. "Butterflies are a striking visual element, so the first thing I thought of was having a lot of butterflies."

Carla Douglass , sign language interpreter major explained that inquisitiveness is what brought her to help with the altar.

"I was just curious," said Douglass. "I don't celebrate Halloween. I wanted to see how they paid tribute to the loved ones they had lost."

While there, Douglass learned why live flowers were placed on the altar.

"Their fragrance draws the spirit of the dead," said Douglass.

Dozens of kids painted designs onto sugar skulls. MACC art instructor Lacey Richter helped the kids with their decorations. She explained the importance of the skulls.

"The sugar skulls are used on the altars," said Richter. "They decorate them and use them as an offering."

Creative writing department chair Charlotte Gullick was at the event to represent ACC.

"ACC is here to get out the word about the Big Read," said Gullick.

The celebration is just one of the events this semester that can trace its funding back to the National Endowment to the Arts grant that ACC received for the second time this year.

"I think that ACC got the grant a second time because we are trying to promote literacy in untraditional places such as the Dia de Los Muertos Celebration," said Gullick.

Thomas Torres, one of the judges for the car show, expressed his opinion of the celebration.

"The event turned out pretty well," said Torres. "This event is an example of wanting to get the youth involved; it's a call for next year to get people out here and fill this place up."