The Post Oak School Celebrates Dia de los Muertos

Each year during the first week of November, the students, faculty, and teachers of The Post Oak School come together to celebrate a very important and famous Hispanic cultural tradition. This celebration, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, honors and celebrates the lives of family members who have passed away. 

Traditionally, family members of the deceased will set up altars with photos of the deceased person, cook elaborate dishes, and sing and dance to help honor the life of the person. In many cases, cities in Mexico and across Latin America will host festivals to honor the dead as well. 

At The Post Oak School, we have many of these same traditions to honor deceased family members of ours. These activities and celebrations, hosted and led by the Spanish teachers at the school, consist of making altars with photos, creating paper flowers, bringing photos of the deceased family members to set up around the school, and cooking dishes as well. 

Students are also encouraged to paint plastic skulls with floral decorations to honor La Catrina, a famous fictional character illustrated by Diego Rivera in the 1900s. Many years, there is also a little festival in the high school in which students and teachers alike participate in choreographed dances while wearing traditional festival dance clothing. Students are also encouraged to cook dishes and bring these to the festival. 

Occurring throughout the first week in November, there are different activities and celebrations that occur each day of the week. Then, on Friday, classes are cancelled in the morning so the festival can occur and people can either participate in or watch the various cultural dances that are presented, as well as admire the decorations, altars, and enjoy the authentic cuisine. 

As Hispanic culture is such a big part of Houston’s heritage, it is important to celebrate and remember different cultural traditions such as this one.