In SHS, Spanish is one of the six global languages you can take. It is one of the more popular global language classes among others ranging from French to Chinese to Latin.

As we approach the Spanish holiday, Day of the Dead, Spanish classes anticipate projects and parties.

“In my past Spanish classes, we’ve always had parties and projects to celebrate Day of the Dead. I think it’s a fun day where students can learn more about the Spanish culture and still enjoy it,” freshman Kaitlyn Jiang said.

Jiang is a student currently taking Spanish 3. Not only has she had to do projects for Day of the Dead in past Spanish classes, but she will continue to throughout her future Spanish classes.

Spanish 3 classes are doing a project on famous dead Spanish speakers, while AP Spanish classes are making alters.

“The projects that we are assigned are not actually too bad. We don’t have to write any long essays or anything; last year we just had to make eggs with confetti in them and read some papers about culture,” Jiang said.

Day of the Dead is a time to celebrate and have fun, despite the misleading name.

In Spain a myriad of other Spanish speaking countries, people celebrate Day of the Dead with crafts and such.

For celebration, Spaniards craft wooden skull masks and place them on alters. They also make sugar skulls, eaten by a relative; all this in an attempt to celebrate their deceased loved ones.

“It is a little strange that they have a day to celebrate their dead, but that’s just my opinion. I guess I just feel this way because America doesn’t have a holiday like this,” Jiang said.

Although it is true that many Americans find Day of the Dead a bit peculiar, they do, or should, respect this holiday, as although it may not be their own, it is celebrated by many people.

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