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October 30, 2023, Filed Under: ESL, Social, UT, Weekend Attractions

Día de los Muertos

Coming Up in ELC:

Scholarship Application: Spring 2024

  • Application available online HERE
  • Submission Deadline: Friday, November 3 @ 5:00 pm
  • Two (2) scholarships are typically awarded: one for AEP and one for ELP
  • Award will cover $2500 towards intensive tuition for the Spring 2024 (15–week) session in either AEP or ELP.

Continuing Student Applications

  • For Spring 2024
  • Application available onlineHERE
  • We would love to see you again!

Upcoming Social Events:

Talk Time

  • Practice your English conversation skills with native English speakers!
  • Tuesday, October 31
  • 4:30 – 5:30 pm
  • MEZ 1.122

Halloween Lunch & Learn Social

  • Bring your lunch, and come learn about Halloween in the US.
  • Monday, October 30
  • 12:45 – 1:45 pm
  • CBA 3.304, Events Room by the Atrium

Día de los Muertos

What is Día de los Muertos?

According to Austin’s Mexic-Arte Museum, “Celebrated by Mexicans and Mexican Americans alike, as well as others in Latin America, Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead is an important religious and cultural event that synthesizes pre-Columbian traditions and Catholic Church practices. Originating in ancient Mexico, the annual celebration is increasingly observed in the United States as part of contemporary Latinx popular culture. Day of the Dead blends indigenous religious and cultural rituals with customs surrounding the Catholic holy days: 
  • November 1: All Saints’ Day (prayers said to saints and martyrs)
  • November 1: Día de los Angelitos (Day of the Little Angels, dedicated to souls of deceased children)
  • November 2: All Souls’ Day (prayers and offerings made to deceased relatives and friends, especially for souls in Purgatory)

During this yearly event, cemeteries are cleaned. Home and public altars or ofrendas (offerings) are built to honor the dead, who they attract with food, drink, candles, incense, marigold flowers, and objects once favored in their lives.”

Who is la Catrina? Why do people paint their face like skeletons?

The original image was created by artist Jose Guadalupe Posada in Mexico City in right before the Mexican Revolution. The Catrina is a well-dressed skeleton that pokes fun at the brevity of life, the futility of materialism, and is a commentary on both death impersonated and a historical embrace of the life/ death cycle that started in ancient Mexico.

UT MACC Día De Los Muertos:

photo courtesy of UT MACC.
  • Join MACC in celebrating this year’s Dia de los Muertos event! It will be a night filled with music, performances, games, prizes, and food! They will also have an ofrenda (altar).
  • Thursday, November 2
  • 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
  • William C. Powers Student Activity Center (WCP) Ballroom 2.410

 

Austin’s MACC: Day of the Dead Festival & Mexamericon Comic Con

photo courtesy of ESB-MACC.
“The MACC’s 16th annual Day of the Dead festival is pairing up again with MexAmeriCon! This will be a community-building family-friendly event. Guests can enjoy hands-on children’s activities, art activations, vendors, food trucks, and a collective community altar.
photo courtesy of mexamericon.com
  • MexAmeriCon is Austin’s first Mexican American and Latinx Comic Book Convention (Comic Con). From 1:00 – 3:00 pm, MexAmeriCon will present their afternoon showcase of Mexican American and Latinx artists who work through the medium of comic books, graphic novels, zines and pop art. The “Artist Alley” under the big outdoor MexAmeriCon tent will offer loteria (bingo), an artisan market, and autograph signings.
  • Live music performance on the outdoor Pan Am Hillside stage from 3:00 – 4:00 pm.
  • From 4:00 – 9:00 pm MACC will have Day of the Dead with altars, art installations, and activities that foster an appreciation for the sweetness and fragility of life.
  • Guests can discover the MACC’s large-scale interactive sculptures, and free sugar skull decorating and face painting.
  • The collective outdoor ofrenda (altar) will be a gathering of memories that grows larger throughout the evening as guests contribute names and notes to it.”
Older person viewing ofrendas during Dia de los Muertos.
photo courtesy of ESB-MACC.
  • The MexAmeriCon and Day of the Dead events all occur outdoors and under tent cover on the Pan Am grassy “Hillside.”
  • Guests may bring their own folding chairs, blankets, and water bottles.
  • Admission (to both events): FREE and open to all ages.
  • Saturday, November 4
  • 1:00 – 9:00 pm
  • Pan American Recreation Center, 2100 E. 3rd St.

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