I love the idea behind Dia de Los Muertos. Recently the kids and I attended the funeral of an older lady from church. Ever since the funeral, the kids, especially James, have been thinking a lot about death. James asked me about cemeteries, so we took a drive through a BEAUTIFUL huge cemetery a couple of minutes away from our house. As we were driving through the cemetery, James said, "I don't get it. Why are cemeteries creepy?" I thought his question was really interesting and I started thinking about it a lot. For the most part, before this funeral, the only time I ever discussed anything related to death with the kids was when we were talking about Halloween. I've always felt awkward when the kids have asked me about death and I always avoided bringing it up. Because of that, their understanding of death consisted of mummies and zombies. Since that day, I've tried to be more open about when my kids want to talk about it. We've talked a lot about what death actually means as opposed to what 'spooky' death means. I think it's been good for all three of us.
So, that brings me to Dia de Los Muertos. I've got to admit, before this year I didn't really know much about it. But from what I've learned, this is what I really like.
1. Instead of trying to make death gruesome, it's a holiday to celebrate those who have died and in some respect poke fun at death.
2. It embraces the fact that eventually everyone will die.
3. It is a very artistically beautiful holiday.
The kids and I went to two Dia de Los Muertos events, one at the Mexican Cultural Center, and one a the Botanic Gardens. The event at the cultural center had a lot of stunning art, but the Botanic Gardens was much more fun! There were all sorts of craft stations. The kids made papel picado necklaces and paper alters.
They also each got their own sugar skull that they got to decorate.
James loved seeing all the skeletons and insisted on taking pictures of all of them.This was his favorite.
Kate really liked all the paper flowers.
And I liked this picture of these silly skeletons.
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