GVSU celebrates Día de los Muertos at Ofrendas Vivas event

The celebration kicked off with a short lecture from local artist Rolando Mancera. Marcera has collaborated with Grand Valley for six years as the designer and author of the university's ofrendas, or offering altars.

Mancera spoke about the history of Día de los Muertos in Mesoamerican regions, its importance to Mexican and Guatemalan culture and the details and meanings that go into constructing an ofrenda.

"[Día de los Muertos is] a day to remember," Mancera said. "A day to remember the people that passed away, the people that we love, the people that we always want to remember in our hearts."

Central to Grand Valley's celebration is the ofrenda designed by Marcera. It is, as its name suggests, a place for people to place offerings to their ancestors. Traditional ofrendas feature pictures of passed loved ones, candles, cempasúchiles, or marigolds, food and items of significance to the deceased. While photos and personal items were not included on GVSU's ofrenda, OMA invited participants to fill out letters to their deceased loved ones to place on it.

Mancera's ofrenda has many of the traditional features of an ofrenda. It was decorated with cempasúchiles, pan de muerto, or bread of the dead, as well as decorations that are representative of the four elements.

Tiburcio Lince, director of OMA, said the goal of the event was to offer a space for community members to explore and learn about Latin American culture.

"We want to talk about why, in our Mexican, Guatemalan and other Central American cultures, we would celebrate an event like this," Lince said. "The reality is that death is so integrated into our daily lives.

"The more that we talk about death, the more we breathe, and the more connected we are to what is our short existence."