Alianza’s Día de los Muertos celebrates the sharing of food, dance, community
- Maya Darski, Staff Writer
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
When students stepped through the Cat Cavern doors on Oct. 31 and walked down a path of golden marigold flowers, they were immediately greeted with an explosion of color.
Flags of every Latin American country and papel picado banners fluttered from the ceiling. An ofrenda stood at the left of the room, decorated with food, candles, flowers and photos of loved ones who have passed. Out on the balcony, students lined up for tacos, flowing back inside for tamales, pupusas and pan dulce. This was Alianza’s annual Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, celebration, a long-standing tradition of the club.
Alianza co-President Valeria Perez (’25) shared how it is important for Willamette to have Día de los Muertos to “empower the Latino community,” especially amid the current political climate. She reflected on how “educating people about any culture is a really big aspect of learning and growing as a community. When people don’t know about a certain culture and their traditions, they may resort to assumptions and feel reluctant to participate.”
This learning and growth is why Perez finds it important to share the culture, as she once did at 2024’s Día de los Muertos celebration: a curious Willamette student asked her what the meaning behind the ofrenda was. As she shared cultural context with the student, she found that it was “a nice feeling to see someone learn something new.”
Throughout the night of Oct. 31, there was food, activities and performances. Two members of the club, Dayanara Salvador (’28) and Alison Cazares (’28), were met with huge rounds of applause after singing “Amor Eterno,” a song about eternal love that continues after death.
The next performance was by Danza Azteca Ohtil, a cultural group from Woodburn that teaches and shares ritual Aztec dances of indigenous Mexico. Afterwards, the audience was encouraged to stand up and compete in musical chairs as well as El Caballo Dorado line dancing facilitated by the executive team of the club.
For the Alianza members, this event takes extensive planning and dedication. Each executive member chose an aspect of the event to focus on, such as food, outreach or decoration. Members were then split into committees where they brainstormed ideas and techniques on how to best execute these tasks and bring the event to life.
The day before the celebration, some members gathered in the Cat Cavern to set up the flags, banners, balloons and the ofrenda. Willamette University Academy students also participated in helping decorate for the event and brought their families to the celebration in order to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Before enrolling as a Willamette student, Salvador had participated in Willamette Academy, so she has been attending Alianza’s Día de los Muertos celebration since the seventh grade.
Alianza’s Día de los Muertos also extends beyond Willamette’s campus to the greater Salem community and more. For the club, this means collaborating with and supporting local businesses. Salvador emphasized how it is a “good way to give back to the community and a great opportunity to get people’s families to come. It’s also a way to branch out and bond for Alianza members.”
Alianza members Maria Alcantar (’28) and Lindsay Perez Esquivel (’28) both appreciated the outcome of the event. Alcantar found the emcee presentation in particular to be well done this year. She remarked, “It was well translated in both English and Spanish. They did a great job explaining what each aspect of the decorations meant.” Esquivel believes the significance of this event stems from how it is a collection of “decorations, stories, performances and food that allows for people to learn about the culture.”
Día de los Muertos is Alianza’s biggest ongoing event, so Perez believes the tradition will continue for a long time.