On Friday, nine schools in Wasatch County celebrated Día de los Muertos and presented their ofrendas to guests from the Wasatch Latino Coalition and a panel from Artes de México en Utah.An ofrenda, which translates to an “offering,” is the central part of the Day of the Dead celebration. Families and individuals decorate altars with photos of their deceased loved ones, candles, marigold flowers, incense, food and other items that they had enjoyed.Yuri Jenson, president of the Latino Wasatch Coalition, introduced the idea of Wasatch County schools creating their own ofrendas six years ago. At that time, Midway Elementary School was the first to take part in the tradition.Since then, many more schools in Wasatch County have begun participating in the Día de los Muertos tradition. The participating schools this year were JR Smith Elementary, Wasatch High School, Wasatch Alternative High School, Timpanogos Middle School, Old Mill Elementary, Daniel’s Canyon Elementary, Rocky Mountain Middle School, Heber Valley Elementary and Midway Elementary.Jenson said she felt strongly that providing this type of celebration in schools would be an enriching experience for all the students. “Sometimes traditions are lost,” she said, emphasizing the importance of younger generations preserving their cultural heritage.“I admire the level of organization in these schools,” said Fanny Guadalupe Blauer, executive director of Artes de México en Utah. She recognized the amount of work that goes into putting the ofrendas together. “The collaboration between schools, parents, and kids, and all of the effort that goes into getting everything put together, it’s a great example of what could potentially be done in Park City and Salt Lake City,” Blauer added.Wasatch County schools celebrated Dia de Los Muertos by creating their own ofrendas and learning about the tradition. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordA key part of the partnership with Artes de México was the introduction of an ofrenda competition, wherein one school would be selected as the “best of show” and receive a prize. This competition has since evolved to include two prize categories: Heritage and Tradition, and Artistic Expression and Creativity. Both categories offer monetary rewards to first-, second- and third-place winners. In addition, certificates are awarded to all participating schools to recognize their efforts and contributions to the celebration.The Heritage and Tradition award embodies the core meaning of the ofrenda and the goal behind this competition — to allow kids to embrace their cultural roots and become ambassadors of preserving their heritage.“This category rewards the team that most accurately and respectfully represents the cultural significance, emotional depth and traditional elements of the ofrenda,” said Blauer. This year’s Heritage and Tradition award’s winning school was Wasatch Alternative High School.Students there said the event was important to their culture and it brings departed loved ones to them to celebrate a day with them until they can celebrate again next year. Upon arrival at the school, the students welcomed the panel with a traditional Mexican chocolate-based atole called champurrado. A variety of sweet spices enhanced its smooth, chocolatey consistency.As students passed the cups around, they spoke about the elements that made up their ofrenda.Pan de muerto, atole, mole, calabaza, pollo en salsa verde — their ofrenda honored not only their own deceased loved ones, but also those of some of their teachers, featuring foods they all enjoyed.In traditional fashion, cempasúchil flowers, or marigolds in English, decorated the ofrenda.“We place the flower of cempasúchil to guide them to the ofrenda so they can take the things that they loved so much back with them,” said one of the students.This was Wasatch Alternative High School’s first time participating in the tradition.“We have an ofrenda on the main campus, but there has never been one here before,” said one of the students. “We thought, ‘There is a school here (too). There should be an ofrenda here.’ And since they don’t include us much over there, we thought, ‘Well, we want to do something for this school, too, so that the kids who are here can see our traditions and our culture.’ That’s why we were motivated to make one here, even if it’s small, so that everyone can see it, admire it, and learn about our culture.”Due to the limited space of the ofrenda, the students explained that since they couldn’t display photos of all the deceased loved ones from everyone at the school, they invited their classmates to write the names of their passed loved ones on a piece of paper, along with a message to them, and placed the note in a basket set on the ofrenda.The basket was overflowing with notes, and students said that through this invitation, their classmates were able to understand the significance of the tradition and take joy in participating. “There are many notes here that students have written, and that gives us so much joy because it’s not only Hispanic students, but kids from all different cultures who have come to admire our culture,” said one of the students.The post Wasatch County schools join in Día de los Muertos for all students appeared first on Park Record.