On November 1st and 2nd, The Nicolaysen Art Museum (The NIC) celebrated Día De Los Muertos, with performances, presentations, and family fun activities.
Día De Los Muertos, also known as The Day of the Dead, is a Mexican holiday to celebrate the souls of their deceased relatives. The celebration has its roots in a mixture of Mesoamerican ritual, European religion and Spanish culture, and spans from October 31st through November 2nd each year.
To kick off the celebration on Friday, November 1st, Cheyenne-based dance troupe, Las Angelitas Unidas y Los Rayos del Sol gave colorful traditional dance performances and shared the rich cultural insights of the dances’ origin. The troupe focuses on educating and sharing these cultural traditions with younger generations and recently created a new group comprised of mothers who’ve returned to dancing.
Also in attendance, was Graciela Ortega, who created a traditional Aztec floor altar. During her presentation, she shared the hauntingly beautiful sounds of the “death whistle”, and explained the connections to this tradition and the changes brought by the Spanish. Originally, the celebration was a month-long festival in August. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Aztec empire in the 16th century, they brought Catholicism with them, and over time, Catholic holidays like “All Saints Day” and “All Souls Day” blended with Aztec traditions, evolving into the Día De Los Muertos celebration we know today.
Fun activities included traditional face painting and attendees were encouraged to show off their best make-up and apparel in The NIC’s Día De Los Muertos Makeup & Apparel Contest.
Volunteers for both days included the Kelly Walsh High School Spanish Honor Society and members of Dean Morgan and Park Elementary Dual Language Immersion students. The students created community ofrendas (which means “offering” in Spanish, and is the offering placed on home altars during the annual Día De Los Muertos celebration) to family members and friends who have passed away, and created Papel picado banners (a traditional Mexican decorative craft made by elaboratively cut tissue paper often displayed during secular and religious occasions). Additionally, the KW members researched and created ofrendas of Gabriela Mistral and Richie Valens.
For first year Spanish Honor Society students, Olyvia Roscoe and Troy Brimmer, participating as volunteers at the celebration has been a blast. Both teens are sophomores at Kelly Walsh High School, and have been taking Spanish since middle school, which has given them both a great appreciation for the language, culture and traditions of Mexico.
Olyvia and Troy explained that they really enjoy the way the community comes together through the annual event to become one big family and celebrate the life and death of their community members. In addition, they really enjoyed Friday’s festivities and the performance by eight of the Los Angelitas Unidas y Los Rayos de Sol dancers, and Olyvia said she hopes to see all 23 dancers perform next year. Troy also noted that he hopes to see a spokesperson at the ofrendas next year to share the history and background of the tradition, as well as stories about the people the ofrendas are celebrating.
Central Wyoming Hospice (CWH) has been a regular participant of the Dia De Los Muertos celebration at The NIC. This year, their representative, Taryn Houser, hosted Death Cafe, a program aimed at providing a safe space for people to discuss death and dying, and to learn about the resources that are available to the community.
Many people don’t feel comfortable having these discussions with friends and family, Taryn explained, and to be able to provide an open forum for people to share their questions and concerns in a welcoming environment has been very rewarding for her. She also shared that they frequently wrap up the Death Cafe sessions with discussions on how to handle and work through grief and provide information on grief support resources.
Taryn was also excited to share that CWH has recently opened up their new facility, The Grief Care Center of Wyoming, which she explained is the first center of its kind in Wyoming. Per their website, “The center offers highly skilled grief care and support at no cost, providing a safe space for those struggling with loss in our community. This free resource is available to help adults and children cope with their grief and find comfort during difficult times.”
Of the Dia De Los Muertos celebration, Taryn said, “They (The NIC) do a great job putting it on… they open it up to all ages, and there’s an experience for everyone that walks through the door.”
“We are overwhelmingly appreciative to the community that made the event this weekend an authentic and beautiful experience,” Allison Maluchnik, Executive Director/The Nicolaysen Art Museum said. Next year, Allison noted, they’d love to have more involvement from the Mexican and Hispanic community, and strive to be a place of comfort to those that have lost family and friends, and especially the younger members of our community. Allison said on Saturday that she wanted to review this section.
Allison also wanted to thank their community sponsors, UniWyo Credit Union, Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant Casper, who provided refreshments, and Copper Cup Coffee Company, who provided beverages.
