The Latino Connection Club at Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park and Westlake High have come together to host their annual Día de los Muertos dance, and this year, they are hoping to make it more inclusive to other hispanic countries by hosting the Baile de la Catrina dance.
La Catrina has a much more universal message, since not every hispanic country celebrates Día de los Muertos. “La Catrina” is an image commonly associated with Día de los Muertos: A tall, female skeleton who wears a hat with feathers and a long, beautiful dress. She symbolizes the cycle of life and to appreciate it, but to also embrace death.
This dance is an event for the hispanic community and others to come together and recognize the culture, and going to these dances can make people feel connected and give them an opportunity to meet new friends. It also gives them a chance to have a community and to feel included with them.
“Going and helping at these dances helped me get in touch with my roots more,” senior Gio Aguirre said.
In order to find out what food they planned to sell — in addition to the ticket prices, the theme and decorations — the clubs set up multiple meetings to collaborate and make sure that everything runs smoothly. For decorations, they chose to highlight the flower cempasúchil, or marigold, which is important to Día de los Muertos because it is believed that when a path is formed with the petals, it will guide the ancestors to their families and make sure they won’t get lost. Event planners also selected decorations such as papel picado and even an altar. Attendees also tasted foods including esquites and chicharrones de harina.
Formed more than 30 years ago by TO wrestling coach Manny Valdez, the Latino Connection Club shines a light on the growing hispanic community at TOHS. It is now run by club presidents Gio Aguirre and Helen Reveres.
“I joined the club freshman year and when I got back sophomore year, joining felt like I had a community, I felt like I belonged,” Reveres said. “It was eye-opening and I felt more comfortable and had more pride for my culture.”
When joining, people can expect a safe environment and community, with events that include field trips to colleges and meetings with guest speakers. Some of these speakers were zoologists, city council members, past alumnus, and people from the school district.
These experiences give the members knowledge about job opportunities and what they can do with their life after high school, while connecting them to their past.