Grace on Celebrating New Cultures
One of the most interesting parts of learning a language is learning the culture of people who speak that language. This semester I am taking Spanish and I have learnt a lot about Spanish culture and Latin American culture. I recently went to an event organized by Nosotr@s, which is the association of Hispanic students in Smith College. The event was “El Dia de Los Muertos” which is the Day of the Dead. It is a part of the Mexican culture, and every year to honor their dead by making flowers, cleaning graveyards, and building an altar to pray in honor of family and friends that passed away. The altar has sugar skulls, candles, flowers and pictures of the deceased family and friends. Nosotr@s built an altar on Halloween, and we made sugar skulls, decorated them and made paper flowers to be put at the altar.
It was amazing to see how Mexicans celebrate the deceased and honor them. There is something reassuring about knowing that even when one dies, they still live forever in the hearts of their beloved ones. I enjoyed making sugar skulls but I enjoyed learning from another culture even more. The USA is so diverse and I feel like I will learn so much from Smith College and the USA in general. It is overwhelming to think about what I could become thanks to an education at Smith College.