Comments on: Talking to Our Kids About Day of the Dead/Día de Muertos

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 09:49:38 +0000

Hi Ana, I wrote a post about my experience that I thought you might be interested in reading.
http://www.spanglishspoon.com/4/post/2012/11/explaining-dia-de-los-muertos-to-my-kiddo.html
By the way…Thank you for being such an inspiration to me and so many Latina Moms I truly am grateful for your contribution to this community.

By: EDSITEment

EDSITEment — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:30:44 +0000

This is a holiday that illustrates Mexico, a treasure, a cultural palimpsest in which the indigenous roots are as alive and relevant as the Christian European influence that came to Mexico from Spain during the age of exploration. It is imperative to make students want to learn another language to ensure interest, and a hunger for learning! One key way is to make students fall in love with the culture that speaks and use the target language, in our case Spanish. The Days of the dead (El dia de muertos) is one prime example. This is a most creative way to bring into the classroom the traditions from another culture. Make an altar in class, make china paper decorations, write poems to the departed, decorate altars with bright colored flowers (cempasuchitl), sugar skulls or calaveras, and bake bread shaped like bones. Learn more with only the best resources about the Day of the Dead and Halloween,
http://edsitement.neh.gov/feature/origins-halloween-and-day-dead

You like what you see? Visit our entire site, there is an abundance of Spanish or bilingual resources, like this feature on the best Hispanic Poets! (Available in Spanish and English):
http://edsitement.neh.gov/feature/seis-gigantes-de-la-literatura-hispana

By: Watch: Day of the Dead Calaca Face Painting {Video} | SpanglishBaby™

Watch: Day of the Dead Calaca Face Painting {Video} | SpanglishBaby™ — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 04:42:04 +0000

[...] to her that she would look just like Rosita. After one night of restless sleep and me having to explain that we wouldn’t actually all be muertos, she finally understood and got excited about [...]

By: Adriana Pacheco

Adriana Pacheco — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 03:58:35 +0000

Día de Muertos allows us to deal with a difficult topic in a lighthearted way. Writing “calaveras” (short poems), eating delicious food like “Dulce de calabaza,” and decorating your house with “calacas” will make the kids enjoy, as Ana says, one of the best traditions in Latin America. If you want to read some “calaveras,” and see Dr. Mata and his friends check out http://www.heritagelanguage.com/collection/day-dead-figurines

By: Ana L. Flores

Ana L. Flores — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 06:46:38 +0000

Thanks for sharing this with us Stephanie. I can’t imagine how difficult it is and will be for you, but it does sound great to be able to celebrate someone’s life despite the loss.
I love this celebration because it helps us approach a topic we don’t even want to mention in a way that’s loving and respectful…and even fun.
Let us know how it goes.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 17:47:29 +0000

I feel you. This is my first year celebrating Die De Los Muertos. Last night when my (almost five-year-old) daughter was sleeping I started getting pictures ready to put in frames we bought yesterday. I was so glad I did that when she was asleep because I couldn’t help to cry as I looked at my little brothers picture. And then, I couldn’t stop thinking holy bananas how am I going to explain the loss of her grandmother’s baby, my baby brother. How will she react to that? She knows about the death of her other Grandmother, but I’ve never told her about My baby brother Giancarlo. So I cried. Makes me want to cry right now. Long story short, by the end of the night I was glad and proud that I am doing this because its easy to forget to celebrate the life of a person you love when all you want to do is forget about how much it hurts to have lost that person. I don’t want to forget him and only mourn his death but also celebrate his life. I am a little nervous but glad about starting this historical tradition and passing it on to my children.