At the BYU Museum of Peoples and Cultures, hundreds of people celebrated Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. BYU students across campus celebrated this Latin American tradition.
The holiday commemorates the lives of family and friends who have passed on.
Adelle Remke, an Experience Design and Management student, helped plan the BYU Museum of Peoples and Cultures’ festivities. She said they had 1,700 people attend last year.
"They are joining in this tradition of remembering our ancestors and seeing that it brings so much joy," she said.
The BYU mariachi band, makeup artists from the BYU Theater and Media Arts department and Brigham’s Wagon from BYU Food To-Go volunteered at the event.
Remke said the museum created an ofrenda, an altar with food, flowers, decorations and pictures of their loved ones.
Other Día de los Muertos memorials were set up on campus, like the ofrenda on the main floor of the BYU library.
Matthew Hill, librarian for Latin American and Iberian studies said this holiday is lively and colorful rather than somber.
"The object is to remember and commemorate and in the most traditional sense, to literally spend time with the spirits of deceased ancestors," he said.
Molly Porter, a participant in the library's activities, was touched by the display.
"I feel like it's a beautiful way to honor these people who still exist. They still live but just aren't on the earth. It makes me really emotional actually."
Hill said the BYU Family History department helped with the ofrenda and activities surrounding it.
Remke also mentioned that the ancestral theme of Día de los Muertos blends well with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's focus on family history.
"The idea is if you don't remember them and remember their name, they will be forgotten and that has eternal consequences for their soul."
BYU students made this holiday one to remember.