Día de los Muertos — also known as Day of the Dead — is back at Madison East High after a three-year hiatus.
East High School’s Raza United and Ballet Folklorico de Maria Diaz will present the 6th annual Dia de los Muertos celebration on Saturday, Nov. 5, at East High School, 2222 E. Washington Ave.
This year’s event will be bigger than usual featuring a daytime educational Día de los Muertos presentation for younger ones starting at 1 p.m., followed by food and craft carts, and then an evening of beautiful dances and amazing music by local singers – all in honor of loved ones.
Silvia Gomez, a Spanish bi-cultural bilingual resource specialist at East High School and an advisor for Raza United, has been helping to organize the annual Día de los Muertos since it first started in 2015 along with María Díaz, founder of the Madison-based Ballet Folklorico de Maria Diaz.
“It’s open to the public and it is open to all ages. We want everyone to come in and learn,” Gomez tells Madison365. “Here at East High School, we have our altar that students created and it’s looking great. People are starting to put pictures around it. We’ve opened it up for people to put pictures of their past loved ones on our altar.”
East High School’s Raza United and Escalera students have constructed an altar for Día de los Muertos that will be filled with pictures of passed loved ones, ancestors, and family to remember and honor.
“We’re really looking forward to the event,” she adds. “We’re hoping everyone has fun and enjoys it.”
All ticket, food and craft sale proceeds from Dia de los Muertos will go to the Ballet Folklórico de María Díaz and Raza United to help pay for costumes, outfits, accessories, field trips, scholarships and graduation stoles.
New to the event this year will be a 1 p.m. educational show.
“The 1 p.m. time is a shorter time period and geared toward younger audiences,” Gomez says. “It’s going to be a little bit more interactive and explain the regalia and dresses and where the dances come from. It was requested that we do something like that for the younger audience right.”
From 2-5 p.m. there will be a food and craft sale.
“We have food that’s going to be made and donated by families. They’re gonna have rice and beans, and guisados and fajitas de reyes and tamales and just a whole bunch of other stuff. A really nice dinner will be provided for sale. Our students are the ones who are going to be kind of handling all of that.
“We will also have a craft for sale and local small vendors,” she adds.
The late show starts at 5:30 p.m. Performing this year will be local artists Carlos Soriano Leal, Miguel Soza and Henry Pérez, along with a special guest appearance of La Casa Drum & Dance and René Avila of Ballet Folklorico de los Hermanos Avila.
“We have a whole of things happening this year. Starting at 5:30 p.m., we will have more of our older participants and also a special appearance by La Casa Drum & Dance, a group of Native indigenous drummers from the Milwaukee area,” Gomez says. “So that’ll be fun.
“The whole performance will be a mix of Ballet Folklorico de Maria Diaz and some fantastic local singers here in Madison.”
El Dia de los Muertos is a traditional Mexican holiday where families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a brief reunion that includes food, drink and celebration. Families create ofrendas (offerings) to honor their departed family members that have passed. Altars are decorated with bright yellow marigold flowers, photos of the departed, and the favorite foods and drinks of those being honored.
“My husband celebrated El Dia de los Muertos until he got her to the United States. Like a lot of people, they start losing that custom when they come to the U.S. because they don’t really see a lot of people doing it here,” Gomez says.
“But since we started this El Dia de los Muertos celebration, I feel like there has been more of an uptick … more people are doing events and it has become more common,” she adds. “Which is great. It’s nice if people feel more comfortable celebrating Dia de los Muertos.
“It makes me happy that I’ve been a part of this thing that is helping other people recognize and celebrate their culture and makes them feel more comfortable celebrating here in the U.S.,” she adds.
Gomez is also happy to have the event back after the long Covid-19 pandemic. She says the feedback she gets from people after the event really inspires her.
“I love the comments that people give afterward after attending El Dia de los Muertos. That’s what I really liked. And I think that’s what keeps me going,” she says. “Because many people thought it was to be like an elementary little performance. And when they come out of it, they’re like, ‘What? I didn’t know it was going to be this big!’
“My mom tells me she loves hearing the music and the singers because there are some songs that are very touching and nostalgic,” she adds. “It’s a nice kind of feeling for many people to hear the music and see the dances … and, of course, to eat the great food.”
East High School’s Raza United and Ballet Folklorico de Maria Diaz will present the 6th annual Dia de los Muertos celebration on Saturday, Nov. 5, at East High School, 2222 E. Washington Ave.
