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El Día de los Muertos at Langley Park CC

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Langley Park Teens got to experience the traditions of Latin America from the convenient location of their local community center Saturday, Nov. 12, at the center’s first Day of the Dead event. Festivities of the evening went deeper than the typical haunted house, introducing teens to of Latin American customs. Participants experienced the haunted house set-up in small groups in a specific sequence. Once they began, each group was taken to a fortune teller, who read palms and used her Ouiga board to communicate with the dead. Next, the group entered the kitchen, where foods such as animal organs and brains were being prepared, followed by the bedroom, complete with a collection of deceased family members’ skulls. Finally, the groups visited the backyard cemetery and the shrine to the dead in the family room. All of the rooms created in the community center, complete with their death-themed features, were modeled after actual Latin American Day of the Dead traditions. For the teens that volunteered as actors in the house, the event attracted them at first only as a fun way to scare and startle their peers. However, once they got involved they were able to learn more about the Day of the Dead, and the culture surrounding it. Jacqueline Murray of Deerfield Run Community Center was inspired to create this event by her interest in this unique holiday, and shared the idea with Lourdes Sulc at Langley Park, where many of the youth attendees speak Spanish. The tour involved some Spanish dialogue in combination with English. “They’ve all learned a lot about this tradition,” said Murray, of the teens that chose to participate. Some of them agreed, like Shaquanna Lopez. Lopez said she got involved at first just “to scare people,” but was interested to learn that “people really celebrate the passing” of family members.