UVic celebrates Day of the Dead with music, art and hot chocolate

The University of Victoria will spend the rest of the week adorning altars and honouring ancestors.

UVic's Latin Studies program will mark the Day of the Dead — Día de Muertos, a major event in Latin America to honour those who have passed away — with celebrations open to the public.

Associate professor Beatriz de Alba-Koch, the program's director, said the school will be celebrating the occasion in the Mexican style: with several days of observances that fuse Catholic and Indigenous traditions.

"It's an overlap between very strong traditional, Indigenous roots and all the diversity of ethnicities in Mexico, but also taken in with the framework of the Catholic Church," de Alba-Koch told All Points West host Robyn Burns.

"It's very much a family tradition, the moment in the year when people pause and remember all those of their family, loved ones, who are no longer with the living."

De Alba-Koch said traditionally, in Mexico, those observing Día de Muertos would prepare the favourite foods of the deceased and decorate an altar in the home.

"It's very colourful: often with paper cutting, definitely with flowers, Mexican marigold flowers are essential," she explained.

"It's definitely becoming more and more jubilant. It is a moment, while one mourns the departure of a loved one, it's a moment to celebrate that person's life."

At UVic, students from the program will set up an altar Thursday afternoon in front of a new collection of murals in the Clearihue building, which celebrate traditional Indigenous motifs.

Beginning at 5:30 p.m. PT, a string band will play and hot chocolate will be served by students in the department.

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With files from CBC Radio One's All Points West