The Camp Verde Community Library will be celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by hosting a series of craft classes centered around Dia de los Muertos for families and children.
Hispanic Heritage Month is held annually between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15 to commemorate and celebrate Hispanic and Latino cultures and their contributions to American society.
Hispanic Heritage Month initially began as a commemorative week first introduced in 1968 by California Congressman George E. Brown. The date of Sept. 16 marks the “Cry of Dolores,” a call to arms that launched the Mexican War of Independence against the Spanish Empire in 1810.
On Sept. 17, 1968, Congress requested that the president issue annual proclamations to mark the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Week. Two decades later, on Sept. 14, 1989, President George H. W. Bush declared the first National Hispanic Heritage Month.
The Latino community is the second-largest community in both Camp Verde and the greater Verde Valley.
“Celebrating different cultures unites us as a community and broadens our experiences and perspectives of others,” said Spanish outreach and children’s library specialist Leticia Ancira.
The library’s first craft class took place on Saturday, Sept. 16, and discussed the history of Dia de los Muertos and the ofrenda, the altar used in one’s home during Dia de los Muertos.
Dia de los Muertos is one of the most important celebrations in Mexico and other Latin American countries. The holiday celebrates life and death, exchanging mourning for joy. Those who have passed are remembered and honored in an intimate celebration.
The ofrenda is a significant part of the holiday. Ancira said that a sugar skull and candle are the two elements required to make an ofrenda to honor someone who has died, both of which participants will learn to make during later classes. An ofrenda display will then be showcased at the library in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.
At another craft session, kids will learn to make tissue flowers that represent marigolds, which are traditionally associated with the celebration. The scent of the marigold is said to call loved ones to the ofrenda.
Monarch butterflies are also believed to represent the souls of ancestors. Millions of monarchs migrate back to Mexico each year at the time the holiday is celebrated, and they are seen as the souls of loved ones coming back as a butterfly.
The papel picado banner represents the fragility of life, as well as the element of wind.
“We want to share this with others because it’s so fun,” Ancira said. “We don’t want anyone to miss out on the fun.”
Ancira also wants to help people recognize that this celebration is not Halloween and has no relation to it even though Dia de los Muertos is celebrated on Nov. 1 and 2, right after Halloween.
“The beauty of Dia de los Muertos is that you don’t forget your loved ones, you remember them by making an offering for them,” Anicra said. “It can be small or big and elaborate, but they stay in your mind. They don’t get forgotten if you remember them every year.”
Ancira invited the community to come out and participate. She stressed the importance of supporting these types of library events so that they can be successful and can grow in the future.
A culminating Dia de los Muertos Cultural Celebration will take place on Sunday, Nov. 5, from 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in partnership with the Phillip England Center for the Performing Arts. The celebration will feature Ballet Folklorico de Colores, Mariachi Lucero, ofrendas, food trucks, activities and more.
The schedule of craft classes at the library is:
- Thursday, Sept. 21, 4 p.m.: Tissue Flowers
- Thursday, Sept. 28, 4 p.m.: Monarch Butterflies
- Saturday, Sept. 30, 11 a.m.: Sugar Skulls
- Thursday, Oct. 12, 4 p.m.: Papel Picado Banner
- Thursday, Oct. 19, 4 p.m.: Decorating a Cross
- Saturday, Oct. 21, 11 a.m.: Decorating a Candle
