Dozens of people gathered in the gym at Westside Village Magnet School on Thursday night, dancing and singing and enjoying food and drink. But it was a different party than most because these people were celebrating the dead.

The school community, along with the Latino Community Association, came together on Thursday to hold a Dia de los Muertos celebration. As children fashioned paper marigolds and decorated sugar skulls, adults put the finishing touches on altars that honored deceased relatives, adjusting yellowed photographs and placing loaves of bread on lace tablecloths.

Though there was a procession with candles and altars honoring deceased relatives and friends, this was not a somber event.

Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a Mexican tradition held Nov. 1 and 2 to honor deceased loved ones. People from different areas celebrate the day in various ways; most go to the cemetery to clean and decorate family graves and create shrines to family members decorated with their favorite things. Local businesses donated traditional food for the event.

Rebecca Easton, the Spanish teacher at Westside Village, helped to organize the event in conjunction with the Latino Community Association.

“We really want to integrate the Latino community into our school, and we want to bring them into this community in general,” Easton said. “It’s about teaching kids that there are different ways of doing things, of seeing things and of celebrating things.”

Easton made an altar for her mother that featured strawberries and whipped cream, her favorite foods.

“She always told me, ‘When I die, have a party,’” she said.

Other altars had glasses of water, plates of food or pan de muerto, a type of bread specific to the holiday, because some who celebrate the holiday believe that spirits return, and they will be hungry and thirsty after such a long trip.

Hilario Ruiz, 35, has lived in Bend for 11 years, and Thursday was the first time since he moved to the United States that he’d celebrated Dia de los Muertos. The celebration didn’t quite live up to the ones he grew up with in Mexico City, where there was dancing and fireworks, but he still enjoyed himself. He even danced to the Macarena during one of the performances.

“You’ve got to make the dead people happy,” he said.

Rossy Gmez, the assistant director of the Latino Community Association, said the event fits in well with the group’s mission, which is to integrate into the community.

“They can come and express themselves and explain how they do (Dia de los Muertos) in their own family and celebrate,” she said. “We can make connections … we all feel the same way about our families.”

Gmez has lived in the United States for 20 years and knows that sometimes people have misconceptions about unfamiliar cultures.

“The best way to explain this is that it’s like Memorial Day is here, except that is for military only,” she said. “It’s a time to remember the ones we loved and who had an impact on our life.”

The school’s Spanish club performed songs and dances during the event as well.

As two of her children prepared to play music for the event, Stacey Dodge, 40, spoke of popping the Bend bubble and showing her kids the world.

“Growing up, we celebrated the traditional holidays, but this is great,” she said. “We hope (our children will) have more of an understanding of the world around them.”

Kylie Cunningham, 11, made an altar to honor her grandfather. She placed a cigarette and a picture of him on it, and placed a list of her grandfather’s favorite things on the altar.

“We want for people to know that this is not about witchcraft,” Cunningham said. “It’s a cultural event.”

Cunningham’s friend Molly Robertson, 12, dressed as a skeleton and wore a mask for one of the dances.

“The most important part is that this is more like a celebration. We’re celebrating people who died,” she said.

If you go

The altars will be on display at the Westside Village Magnet School gym from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today.

1101 N.W. 12th St., in Bend; 383-6205