As October comes to an end, many prepare to celebrate Halloween with skeletons and ghouls. But around the same time, there’s a culturally vibrant and festive celebration going on.

The Latino community in Corvallis delivers a few opportunities to celebrate Dia de los Muertos encouraging people of all backgrounds to connect with and celebrate the lives of their loved ones who have passed. 

Originating in Mexico and falling on the first few days after Halloween, there is a misconception that Dia de los Muertos is an extension of the ghoulish holiday.  

Despite its connection to skeletons and its proximity to Halloween, Dia de los Muertos is not associated with the Halloween tradition. It can better be described as a celebration of remembrance of people who are no longer with us. 

Dia de los Muertos is a two-day celebration. Nov. 1 is dedicated to the youth who have passed, the second is dedicated to the adults who have departed this life. 

For third-year psychology major, Jossilyn Martinez, Dia de los Muertos is a way to connect with her ancestors. 

“(Dia De Los Muertos is) about honoring past ancestors and showing them they are loved and not forgotten,” Martinez said.

Normally, to celebrate, families and communities create “ofrendas” or altars topped with photographs of their loved ones. They gather personal items, memorabilia or really anything that reminds them of the people they have lost. The ofrenda is often decorated with Pan de Muerto, sugar skulls and marigolds, as well as the favorite food or fruit of the person who is being remembered.

Misael Enamorado, a community health worker and volunteer coordinator for the Casa Latinos Unidos organization explained the purpose of these decorations, to help call your departed loved ones back home for the night.

“The whole idea behind the marigolds, it’s a way for (the spirits) to be able to come back on that day,” Enamorado said. 

The marigolds open the bridge between the world of the dead and ours for the departed to come back and see all the gifts left for them by their families.

“They either eat the bun or their favorite food overnight, and then leave the next day,” Enamorado said.

Rooted on OSU campus, the Centro Cultural César Chávez along with Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws will be hosting a Dia de los Muertos celebration in the Student Experience Plaza this Friday, Nov. 1 from 5 to 7 p.m.

The celebration will include activities such as the chance to write a poem, decorate sugar skulls and an opportunity to get your face painted. 

The Centro Cultural César Chávez invites and welcomes all to celebrate and learn about this cultural holiday.

The Benton County Museum has worked together with local organizations and nonprofits such as Casa Latinos Unidos and Corvallis-Benton Public Library and Multicultural Literacy Center, as well as Ancestral groups like Doña Del Food and Lakura Tattoo, to help make a festive Dia de los Muertos celebration.

This Dia de los Muertos celebration will fall on Saturday from 2 to 8 p.m. and is free and open to the community of Corvallis.

There will be a story-time session put on by the Corvallis Public Library and a poetry-sharing session, written by young high school students in the Corvallis community.

The Benton Public Library is also building a community ofrenda. Since Oct. 23, they have allowed people from the community to come in with photographs and personal items to put on the ofrenda. 

Some things to note: they will only accept nonperishable foods and will not be accepting live flowers until Nov. 1.

The event will also be filled with so many cultural festivities such as a baile folklórico called La Bruja. In addition, there will also be a Catrina and Catrin contest you can sign up for.

With colorful flowing dresses and flowers adorned on their skeleton heads, la Catrina and el Catrin are the most iconic symbols of Dia de los Muertos, a symbol of both life and death. 

“I feel like when people think of Dia de los Muertos, the first thing that comes to mind is La Catrina,” Enamorado said. 

The contest itself invites people to come dressed in La Catrina’s Victorian style, and dawn her skeleton face. “The panda eyes, the Victorian dress and they have the flower crown or a big hat that they wear,” Enamorado said. 

The Dia de los Muertos celebration at the Benton County Museum will also have traditional food such as pan de muerto, tamales and atoles as well as food from other local vendors.

“No matter your background, where you come from, your social class or your economic class, in the end we’re all going to pass away,” Enamorado said. “There’s that equality of us, that equal denominator that we’re all just going to pass away in the end.” 

Death within Mexican culture is not dark and morbid. Rather than missing the presence of your loved ones in sadness, Dia de los Muertos invites people to honor the life that they lived and the life that you got to experience them live, while also serving as a reminder that they are not truly gone.

“Dia de los Muertos is more about celebrating the life of those who have passed and not so much about mourning the death,” Enamorado said. 

The César Chávez Cultural Center and the Benton Public Museum encourage Corvallis to celebrate and learn about Latino and Indigenous traditions.

“The whole purpose is just to bring together the Corvallis community,” Enamorado said. “To celebrate the culture and to educate people as well about Dia de los Muertos.”