Overshadowed in October
3 min readBy Mackenzie Delp
The day of the dead and national breast cancer awareness month are often overlooked by Halloween in the month of October.
The Day of the Dead
The day of the dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is a Mexican holiday celebrating life and death. The day of the Dead begins this year on October 31st and ends November 2nd. Throughout this three-day long event a lot of traditions happen. Even though it is an unofficial holiday, most places in Mexico have parades and decorate the streets for this event. On “All Saints Day,” which is November 1st the graves of children are adorned with toys and balloons. The following day, “All Souls Day,” is when adults are honored by having displays with their favorite food, drinks, and sacred belongings. Along with these things the flower that is commonly thought of when people think of the day of the dead is the marigold. All these traditions are carried out by the deceased persons family. Families prepare festive meals and create different shaped sweets that relate to the holiday such as the popular sugar skull. During the holiday children dress up in scary costumes to wear during the festival. Due to Covid, not many of the public events for the day of the dead may occur; however, the holiday will still be celebrated. When prompted with the questions, what do you know about the day of the dead? How does this holiday impact you if at all? Christian Trinciante answered with, “I know that the day of the dead is basically a day where people put out a bunch of pictures of previous relatives so they can cross over,” Gracie King responded to these questions with,”Day of the dead is a Mexican holiday where the dead “come” back to life to see their loved ones. This impacts us because it tells us about their culture”
National breast cancer month
National Breast Cancer month takes place throughout the entire month of October. Breast cancer affects more than 200,000 people in the U.S. every year. This month brings awareness to a cancer that is so common among today’s population. Most people are unaware that there are many different types of breast cancer. There is Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC), Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS), Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC), Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC), Invasive Lobular Cancer (ILC), and Lobular Carcinoma In Situ (LCIS). Women can also get breast cancer during pregnancy, although it is rare, it does happen. This causes extra stress on the patient due to the concern for her unborn child. One of the least known facts about breast cancer is that men can be diagnosed as well. It is important to know about these different types of breast cancer because it is so common. With an entire month dedicated to bringing awareness to it there are many different things done during a normal year. This includes many different organizations hosting different races and charity events to bring in money for organizations such as the breast cancer research foundation and the national breast cancer foundation among many others. Destiny Johnson answered the questions, what do you know about breast cancer? How does this illness impact you? with the following, “I know how aggressive breast cancer can be and the toll it can take on one’s body. My grandma had precancerous cells which they removed just in case, but it was still scary.”
