A community celebration was held at East Aurora High School over the weekend as Athziry Día de Muertos and the city of Aurora offered a Dia de los Muertos event.
The free five-hour event on Sunday included live music, food, dancing and more in honor of the upcoming Dia de los Muertos – Day of the Dead – which is traditionally celebrated on Nov. 1-2 in Mexico and across Latin America to honor loved ones who have passed away.
Jose Torres, a member of the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board and the Athziry Foundation, said the event has been held for 17 years and was moved this year from downtown Aurora “in an effort to provide a place where people feel safe.”
“We had this downtown and I was thinking about a space and East High is cooperating with us and we believe people will feel more comfortable,” he said.
Torres said the non-profit Athziry group’s mission is to promote the cultural elements of Mexicans including “the special occasion of the Day of the Dead.”
“For 17 years, we have had ofrendas at businesses in Montgomery and Aurora and we cooperate with them to promote this,” he said before the event over the weekend. “We had about 1,500 people last year in downtown Aurora and because this is inside this year we expect even more.”
New this year at the event was a Mexican goods and artifacts market that was located inside the school as well as a fashion show.
Cynthia Junejo, owner of Goat Girl Jewelry which was a vendor at the event, said she was happy to participate in the celebration.
“With the political climate we have going on, with a lot of fear in various neighborhoods – especially the Latino neighborhoods – I thought it was important for me to participate so I can spread the word that this event is going on and get more people, especially from Aurora, to come and check it out,” she said. “We need to help them (Athziry) raise funds and keep the culture alive.”
A dance group, Danzantes Unidos Mitotiliztli, was on hand at the event and member Jolynn Garcia of Aurora said their performance would provide support for the Dia de los Muertos celebration.
“We are spreading our culture and making sure that Day of the Dead is represented with everything that we do,” she said.
She said the Day of the Dead is “beautiful.”
“The day you forget to remember your loved ones is the day then you could say they’ve passed on, but this is opening the doors and the light, showing them the light to come in,” she said.
Popular Mexican actress Katie Barberi was on hand, adding a celebrity touch to the event.
“We’re doing a celebration of a beautiful Mexican tradition that is shared by all Mexican communities and it’s been embraced by the American and Canadian community as the Day of the Dead and a celebration throughout the Halloween festivities,” she said. “This is to celebrate the lives of those we’ve lost and we all have that common thread – we all take the time to remember someone we’ve loved and lost.”
Valeria Torres, 14, of Carpentersville, was at the event and said it is important to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.
“I think it’s important we do this. We have celebrated this in our family,” she said. “It’s not like Christmas – it’s something we do out of respect. My favorite part of this is remembering our family members who have passed away. That their spirit gets to be with us, and you just get to talk about them.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
