The message "Para nuestros amadas" ("For our loved ones") adorned the top of a colorful display board surrounded by candles, paper marigolds and bread of the dead Sunday afternoon in the Ball State University Museum of Art Brown Study Room.
To its left on a table rested a large, pink ribbon. Beside the table stood Jeannette Young, a piece of bread of the dead in hand.
"My great aunt recently died of breast cancer," said Young, Latino Student Union social chair. "I thought it was fitting to commemorate her this way for Breast Cancer Awareness Month."
Names of dead family members and friends close to LSU's 30 members' hearts were written prominently on the makeshift altar as a way to commemorate their deaths, she said.
Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a two-day Mexican holiday starting today, serves as a way for the living to remember their beloved relatives who have died and passed on to a new life.
Traditionally families gather two to three days before the holiday to prepare the altar and offerings, called ofrendas, to commemorate the dead, Young said.
Ofrendas such as flowers, the dead person's favorite food or a child's favorite toys are brought along during the velada - a night spent at the cemetery cleaning a loved one's tomb and immortalizing her death, she said.
The first night celebrates children and the second night commemorates all who have passed on, she said.
Preparations for LSU's altar lasted two days, which was pretty typical, Young said.
At home, though, Young's family usually doesn't celebrate Day of the Dead, she said; they spent Mother's Day cleaning her aunt's gravesite instead.
"For some it's easy to have a tribute [for loved ones who have died], but some would rather not," LSU President Esther Valladolid said.
Valladolid commemorated two grandparents with names written on the board as part of the traditional ofrenda, she said.
"In Latin American culture, death isn't considered a bad thing. It's something that should be celebrated as a way to remember someone's life," she said.
The ofrenda was one of the displays at the Art Museum's Day of the Dead Family Day Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Eric Chavez, a traditional weaver from Oaxaca, Mexico, began touring the Midwest this year with the rugs his whole family helped to create. He made a stop at Sunday's family day with his father, Federico Chavez Sosa.
In Oaxaca, the Day of the Dead tradition dates back 3,000 years and is one he and his close relatives celebrate every year, Chavez said.
"[Day of the Dead] is a very colorful tradition," he said.
As he displayed his ornate handmade rugs in the Sculpture Court, Chavez described the natural dye process he uses and how weaving has tightened the already close-knit relationship between him and other members of his family.
Chavez's grandmother spins wool and he and his father create natural dyes and weave tapestries, Chavez said.
Chavez first learned how to weave at age 8 and made his first tapestry at 12. He hopes to keep the family tradition alive and is looking to pursue a master's degree from North Carolina State University, he said.
"These skills have been passed on from generation to generation," he said. "There are only a few master weavers in the village."
Back in the Brown Study Room, Kimberly Bortnem, an undergraduate fellow for the Art Museum and volunteer for family day, demonstrated how to create paper marigolds from tissue paper and pipe cleaners.
Bortnem, who enjoys learning about different cultures, was glad children at the event showed an interest as well, she said.
"Learning about different cultures opens the door for you and helps with communicating with people from different backgrounds," she said.
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