by Divya Kumar
News Editor

Video by Christina Valdez

While to most, the end of October usually generates excitement over a weekend filled with haunted houses, scary movies and trick-or-treating, to a portion of the school it signifies something far different: the holiday of Dia de Los Muertos.

Though the holiday has been touched lightly upon in Spanish classes through the years, several students are still unaware of what exactly this Hispanic holiday entails. Dia de Los Muertos is a day held in honor of the dead as a celebration to their memories and time spent on Earth. Families gather together in cemeteries to adorn the graves of the deceased and celebrate with music, decorations, and “pan de los muertos”, or bread of the dead.

“Dia de Los Muertos is one of my favorite holidays,” senior Daniela Gaitan said. “You get to eat delicious pan de muerto and you get to remember the ones you lost and miss. It’s a celebration that reminds you of them, and since you cook for them, you feel satisfied that you’ve brought them something even though they’re not here.”

In order to spread awareness of an event that so many students at Coppell High School celebrate, this year the Spanish Club plans to feature a display in the main hallway. Before the display was set up, however, the club prepared by hosting a Dia de Los Muertos party on Oct. 13 in sponsor Emily McCoy’s room.

The party, which served chips, salsa and sopapillas – a common practice at all meetings, not just this one – began right after club delegation had completed. Multicolored tissue paper was passed out for members to cut into different shapes to make “papel picado” and small skulls were featured to be painted as Spanish music played on Pandora in the background.

“Lots of people think a celebration about the dead would be something morbid and solemn,” junior Spanish Club advertising and marketing officer Priya Gupta said. “But Dia de Los Muertos is nothing like that. It’s a celebration, and we wanted the party to reflect that. It’s a day to do arts-and-crafts and paint and overeat and basically just have a good time, just like the dead would have wanted.”

Once the party ended around five, all of the decorations were collected. These skulls and paper-cutouts, in addition to tombstones and fake cobwebs, will all be part of the display, set to be up on Nov. 1, the official Day of the Dead. The display will not only serve as a decoration of the holiday, but to also remind Coppell High School of the diversity present at all grade levels.

“A lot of people tend to forget about Dia de Los Muertos, especially with Halloween so close to it,” Spanish Club Treasurer senior Hector Hernandez said. “The holiday blends so well with Halloween, with the resonating theme of death and skulls, and it’s important for students at Coppell High School to remember the diversity of holidays celebrated at this time. Hopefully the display will do just that, while spreading some of the cheer of the celebration of the dead at the same time.”