On Saturday, Nov. 2, the college hosted its third annual Día de los Muertos (DDM) celebration. The procession began in front of the Anderson Freeman Center (AFC), where a group of about 30 Middlebury students, faculty and residents from the town gathered to learn about and celebrate the holiday. Programming for the celebration included a Catholic Mass at St. Mary’s Church, a trio of songs by the college choir and a number of small art projects and performances located throughout campus.
Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday on Nov. 1 and 2 during which communities come together to pay respects to family and friends who have passed. The holiday serves as a reminder that while material possessions are ultimately transitory, the bonds of love and affection transcend death.
Planning for the Día de los Muertos celebration began over the summer. The DDM team — led by Isbeth Bustos-Arellano ’26 and backed by several student, staff and faculty volunteers — worked to ensure that the valued traditions associated with Día de los Muertos could be thoroughly represented at the college. According to Bustos-Arellano, attendance at the celebrations appeared to double from previous years.
Students expressed curiosity about the holiday and how Middlebury would fashion a celebration of the occasion.
“I’m really interested in learning more about the holiday and how it’s celebrated,” said Miranda Hurwitz ’28. “I’ve never had the chance to observe it but often see the day represented in movies and media, and I’m excited to see how Middlebury contributes to it.”
The holiday has deep pre-Columbian roots and is not inherently a Catholic holiday; however, it coincides with the Catholic observance of All Saints’ Day, and many Mexicans identify as Catholic. As a result, religion is intertwined with the holiday, even though it can be and often is celebrated independently of religious practices. For Middlebury’s celebration, a mass was held on the evening of Saturday, Nov. 2, where individuals could pray for and honor their loved ones in the spirit of the holiday.
As the procession met in front of the Anderson Freeman Center (AFC) and headed to St. Mary’s, musicians among the marchers played traditional Mexican folk songs such as “De Colores” and “Cielito Lindo.” Participants carried sculptures of La Catrina, the central symbol of Día de los Muertos, which represents the cycle of life and death, and of a Calavera, a skull that has also become a symbol of the holiday.
The mass was led by Fr. Tim Danaher, a Dominican friar who serves as Director and Chaplain of the Aquinas House at Dartmouth College. Danaher, who travels to Addison County monthly to hold Spanish masses for the migrant community, was instrumental in organizing the first Día de los Muertos celebration at Middlebury in collaboration with Assistant Professor of Theatre Olga Sanchez Saltveit.
Danaher explained his involvement with the programming and how it blends the different cultures of Middlebury and the holiday’s Mexican origins.
“This is our third year, so we basically do a mass with all the migrants, and then the students and professors of Middlebury have prepared this tour through campus with different traditions,” Danaher said, gesturing at the surrounding ofrendas and performances. “It’s sort of a creative adaptation, but it's really authentic, and it's authentic to Middlebury and to Mexico.”
At the conclusion of the service, the procession group grew to approximately 100 people. It then made its way from St. Mary’s Church to McCullough lawn, where eight ofrendas — altars with offerings for the spirits of the dead — stood with candles, papel picado, and photos of loved ones. Participants walked among them, paying their respects to the dead and adding personal photos or mementos.
Armelle Crouzières-Ingenthron, the J. Harvey Watson professor of French & Francophone Studies, shared her reflections on the event after participating in the celebration.
“November 1 is a holiday in France too,” Crouziéres-Ingenthron said. “We celebrate the dead by putting flowers on their tombs. But I love the Mexican tradition because there’s music and food, and people are upbeat... It’s very personal and, at the same time, unifying.”
At the top of chapel hill on campus, the Middlebury choir performed songs including “La Bruja,” “La Llorona” and “Amor Eterno.” The final of the three is a common Spanish funeral song. Its message of love, death and togetherness encapsulates the main theme Día de los Muertos. As the music played, the voices of the processionists mingled with those of the choir.
Performances continued around campus that evening. With their faces adorned in skull paint, four theater students told the story of La Llorona in front of Gifford Hall. This haunting Mexican folktale describes a vengeful spirit who haunts bodies of water and can be heard wailing loudly for her children who drowned. Across the road, dancers performed Baile folklórico — a Mexican folk dance — in front of Proctor Dining Hall in traditional blue and red skirts.
The event concluded at Perkins House, the Spanish House on campus, where people could contribute to a community ofrenda and enjoy refreshments and food.
To add to the festivities, a special meal comprised of a variety of traditional Mexican food was served in Proctor Dining Hall on Friday evening for dinner, including pozole rojo, tostadas de tinga, beef empanadas and chicken tamales wrapped in banana leaves. Mexican coffee — a sweet drink made with coffee, cinnamon, cocoa and whipped cream — was also served.
Bustos-Arellano first met with Chris Laframboise, a dining services chef at Proctor, in September to plan this meal, sharing with him the Mexican recipes she grew up with. The recipes were then tweaked due to challenges in acquiring the proper ingredients and dining hall staffing shortages. In subsequent meetings, Bustos-Arellano was able to taste test some of the dishes before the special meal, when she and Laframboise finalized the menu together.
“I am grateful that Chris stepped up to help and be open to learning. I was even more happy to see the reactions of students when they saw the conchas, ate the flan and learned about the special meal.” she wrote to The Campus. “For me, it's important to be able to have the meals you grew up with so that it brings us closer and because that's my love language.”
Bustos-Arellano also emphasized her gratitude for the many volunteers that were eager to come together to help the community celebrate the tradition.
While the event is designed to bring together the Mexican community in and around Middlebury, it also offers an educational opportunity for people who have had no prior exposure to the holiday, giving them a chance to learn about the traditions and cultural significance of Día de los Muertos and participate in the celebration. The Día de los Muertos celebration has united the community and created a space to share love and sorrow, joy and fear.
“[Fr. Danaher] explained it really well as a passage. It’s not the end,” Crouzières said. “It's the beginning of something else. And I found that very comforting.”
Editor’s Note: Managing Editor Madeleine Kaptein ’25.5 contributed reporting to this article.
