Festivities honor the dead

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Students packed into the Carmen Castellano Fine Arts Center at San Jose City College for the Dia de los Muertos, otherwise known as Day of the Dead, celebration Oct. 30.

Artists and students collaborated on creating a lineup of events including Aztec dancing, face painting, swinging and a pinata and art viewing.

“We raise ourselves up when we make time for these events,” said Lee Onista, 27, fine arts major.

The event kicked off with a group of Aztec dancers and musicians called Calpulli Tonalehqueh, which translates to the Nahuatl phrase “warriors accompanying the sun.”

The two dancers, one male and one female, wore 5-foot-long feathers on their heads and noise-making shells on their legs. The choreography consisted of many kicks and spins to the beat of the drums.

Two more men from Calpulli Tonalehqueh gave speeches and played instruments, including the maracas, drums, flute and gong.

The final dance was inspired by fire, water, earth and air. A member of the dance group said, “We have gods for each of element and we dance to show respect for them.”

The event died down after the dancers left, but visitors continued to come in and out of the gallery throughout the day.
Colorful and festive art work, displayed in the gallery since Oct. 11, lit up the room.

Espino feels she made great decisions by putting no limits on the artists.

“There’s all different types of art shown here including contemporary, traditional, and performance.”

After serving a 21-year prison sentence, Santa Cruz’s Chris Wimer decided to get involved by contributing a whole wall of art pieces.

“It feels good to be a part of this,” said Wimer, 40.  He hopes to work more with youth.

Wimer just launched a clothing line called “Natal” and plans to release music after recently working with famous producers.

“Day of the Dead isn’t just a Mexican holiday,” Wimer said “it was actually started by native Indians and indigenous groups.”

A handful of students and faculty participated in breaking a piñata, which was postponed from the Oct. 24 poetry reading event due to the overwhelming amount of poetry.

Some students even had their faces painted in a black-and-white skeleton design.

Tribal-like music played from a computer speaker and free snacks were provided to the crowd.

The costume contest, as advertised on the flier, never occurred because no one dressed up, said Carolann Espino, art student and coordinator of the event.

Espino said, “This year’s Dia De Los Muertos event was better than last year’s because we involved more of the student body and the community.”

“I wish there were more students dedicated as Carolann to bring the community together,” Onista said.

Many of the organizers are already preparing to raise the bar for the Dia de los Muertos gallery next year.

“We can improve by getting more students involved,” said Jesus Cavarrobias, faculty of ethnic and Chicano studies.
Espino also shared her feelings that the school needs to bring more attention to campus events.

“There was trouble getting money, there was no budget and I only had two weeks to pull everything together,” said Espino. “I hope the school gets more money for the art department by having events like Dia de los Muertos that gain a lot of attention.”

“The turnout was really good,” said Lucy Ghelfi, 60, student artist. “We had a dynamic couple of weeks to educate people of Day of the Dead.”

Overall the event was a success seeing as how it accomplished the goals of bringing people together and showcasing culture.