At Trinity, an Ofrenda in the Middle of Campus: Students Build a Place to Remember for Día de los Muertos

Día de los Muertos, celebrated Nov. 1 and 2, is rooted in the Mexican tradition of decorating altars — ofrendas — at cemeteries, and in San Antonio it has grown into altars in homes and communal places across the city, the Trinitonian reported Thursday in a piece read in full this run. At Trinity University, the Latino Association (TULA) has built an ofrenda that will stay on display in the Center for International Engagement until the group's celebration, Noche de Calaveras, on Nov. 3.

"I think it's really a beautiful way to kind of show that these people are still in your life, no matter if they passed or not," Kristen Padilla, a senior neuroscience major and TULA co-president, told the Trinitonian. Ofrendas are traditional mini altars decorated with pictures and personal items — food, sweets and meaningful belongings — and TULA invites students to share pictures of loved ones by email or Instagram direct message to be placed on the altar. Noche de Calaveras will feature crafts and culturally significant foods such as pan de muerto and abuelita, Padilla said.

"As you're walking on campus and you're going to your class, you can see the photo of your loved one as you're passing by, and I think that's really nice because it brings a sense of community, and that's what we want to do," Padilla said. The campus altar sits inside a citywide season: the Trinitonian notes Muertos Fest at Hemisfair draws over 130,000 people with more than 200 community-made altars, and lists celebrations running through Nov. 12, from the Pearl and the River Walk to the Botanical Garden's Jardín de las Catrinas and Centro Cultural Aztlan's 49th annual Altares y Ofrendas.