As the sun set over the Quarry Amphitheater, about 1,200 attendees gathered for the annual Día de Los Muertos Ceremonia. The event was hosted by El Centro, UC Santa Cruz’s Chicanx Latinx Resource Center, alongside various campus organizations, featuring performances by student and local groups. Student staff served tamales, pan dulce and agua de jamaica free of charge while also hosting activities such as face painting, letter writing and a know your rights workshop.
Organizers assembled an ofrenda in the center of the Quarry Plaza, adorned with candles, cempasúchil and offerings brought by guests in remembrance of lost loved ones.
At 5:30 p.m., student emcees announced the commencement of the ceremony with a land acknowledgement and an introduction for the first performers, White Hawk Indian Council for Children.
Attendees gather around the ofrenda, an altar, constructed in the center of the Quarry Plaza to leave photographs and offerings honoring their passed loved ones. 
A line of student volunteers serve complimentary tamales, pan dulce and agua de jamaica to guests as they make their way past the front gate.
During an intermission between performances, an attendee reads letters posted on the “letters to loved ones” station.
White Hawk Indian Council for Children, a Watsonville-based Indigenous education and dance group, commenced the ceremony with a danza and prayer.
Performers from Grupo Folklórico Los Mejicas, a student-based folklórico dance group, perform dances from the regions of Zacatecas [Photos 1 – 3] and Veracruz [Photos 4 – 7].
Musicians from Mariachi Eterno, a student-based mariachi group at UCSC, perform songs on the Quarry Amphitheater stage.
For the final performance, Bay Area band Rasquache Liberation Front take the stage after a short intermission.
