ORLANDO, Fla. — Members of the community came together Thursday night at the Spirit of Joy Church in Orlando to reflect and honor the 49 lives that were lost 10 years ago at the Pulse shooting. 

Organizers with Del Ambiente and a group of artists from Loíza, Puerto Rico, hosted a baquiné for the victims of the shooting, to remember them through joy and celebration. 

“We thought it would be an appropriate thing to, instead of mourning like we do every year — we seem to mourn on this day — we were hoping by doing a celebration, and it will be a celebration, will be very, very joyful, very uplifting,” said Nancy Rosado, who coordinated the Pulse 10: Baquiné for the Angels celebration. “It would prepare those who are in attendance for the feelings they’re going to be feeling tomorrow.”

A baquiné, an ancestral Afro-Puerto Rican tradition, is a ceremony historically held to honor the lives of children who have died. 

Hundreds came together and filled the room alongside families of the victims and survivors, local and state leaders, including former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, who took to the podium to raise her voice about her ongoing fight to end gun violence.

“America needs all of us to speak out,” said Giffords, who was shot in the head and nearly killed in 2011 when a gunman opened fire at an event in Tucson, Ariz. “Even when you have to fight to find the words. I’m also in a second fight — the fight to stop gun violence.”

Through songs, drums, and cultural expressions, the baquiné celebrated the 49 lives lost at Pulse, and allowed their families and the community to mourn together.

“In the end, we’re human,” Rosado said. “We are people — we share the same emotions, and we can share joy, we can share sorrows. We can uplift each other, too.”

Organizers said the baquiné is also a way of holding the community together by acknowledging loss and celebrating life with dignity and human connection.

“They were happy, they were celebrating life. We need, after 10 years, we need to continue celebrating their lives, because we learn from them and they were very strong,” Casa Cultural Yuiza founder and President Margie Lacen said. “The Puerto Ricans, the Dominicans, the Blacks, all of them. They were very strong culturally. Their identity was strong.”

With one of the songs, the group honored every single one of the people who died during the Pulse nightclub attack, mentioning each of their names followed by the term “mi sumangue,” which means “my beloved.”