Virginia Cononie
As the Fall semester is wrapping up, the USC Upstate Library Display committee’s latest theme will be titles and items representing the holiday season. Final exams are approaching, and we wanted to have something festive and appealing for students to see while they are studying in the library. The display will highlight multiple holidays from various cultures celebrated around this time of year. Every book or DVD that is on display is available for check out. In addition to our display, we have included holiday decorations and items at the reference desk as well. We hope our patrons will appreciate all these items on display and be educational to anyone not familiar with one of these holidays. The committee wants all items and decorations expressed here to be inviting and embody a section of our collection our patrons might not know we have.
The Latin American Student Organization (LASO), the South Carolina Centro Latino, and the USC Upstate Library are pleased to share their recent collaboration--an altar and an ofrenda (offering) commemorating el Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
The altar, decorated with images of calaveras (skeletons) and colorful designs reminiscent of papel picado (cut paper), pays tribute to famous Mexican personalities from the past. The ofrenda includes a sample of pan de muerto (bread of the dead), a pastry customarily served at Day of the Dead festivities, and marigolds, a flower traditionally associated with this important cultural celebration.
The altar also features print and digital books from the library's collection.
The exhibit will be on view on the library's 1st floor until Wednesday, November 23.
