I have to admit that I held zero interest in this holiday for years, simply because I was not a fan of seeing skulls and skeletons. (I know, I know. That’s me, freaked out to see the skeleton in science class when I was growing up.) While other people were getting super trendy with their colorful skull decorations on patches and shirts and mugs in recent years, I didn’t even think to explore what this holiday was about.
So, thank goodness for a few things. Love, Sugar, Magic has been a favorite book series around here for the past year. And because of it, our daughter really took to the idea of Dia de los Muertos. She set up a mini ofrenda of photographs of our loved ones and sprinkled flower petals outside leading to our door. As I learned more about this holiday from the books and research (and Coco, of course), I realized just how much I LOVE love love this celebration.
As we reflected on some of the symbols of this holiday, we realized that although Halloween and Dia de los Muertos may share things like skeletons, cemeteries, candles and so on, Halloween tends to take a spooky twist, whereas Dia de los Muertos is about honoring and respecting these things.
I think we’ll be adding to our own traditions for Dia de los Muertos as the years pass, but I was excited to try some new things this year.
Some of what we’ve already done to celebrate as newbies to this holiday:
–Putting up photos of the loved ones who have passed away.
–Lighting a candle for them.
–My daughter also wanted to put out a food offering.
–Sprinkling rose petals outside in a path to our door. (Traditionally, the flowers for this holiday are marigolds, but we made do.)
–Buying Pan de Muerto at the local bakery (The panaderia was closed all weekend, so I’m glad we went ahead of time and froze the bread for today.)
–Running in a Dia de los Muertos race. (I’m NOT a runner. At all. But I loved the idea of working towards something and dedicating a run to a loved one who has passed. There are virtual options, but check for local ones too!)
–Visiting a cemetery. (Maybe this sounds odd, but we weren’t visiting to be creepy or disrespectful. We visited to show our children what a cemetery and headstones look like. We read some markers and talked about some of the traditions of burials and so on. It was a beautiful fall day and an enjoyable visit.)
—Making churros (Not sure these are a traditional food for the holiday, but, any excuse for churros sounds good to me!)
–Reading some books that tied in with the holiday.
Some traditions I hope to add:
–Making bottle cap candles like these, so each of our deceased loved ones has a candle we can light.
–Collecting stories, quotes, favorite memories from other family members throughout the year about those who have passed, so I can compile these and we can watch or listen to them on the holiday.
–Having a bigger fire, whether in our fireplace or around a fire pit. (One family I talked to has a fire in their fire pit. This would be a great opportunity to share stories and memories.)
–Face painting!
Obviously, Dia de Los Muertos isn’t the only celebration of deceased loved ones. There’s the Obon Festival in Japan (in August), Qingming in China (in the spring), fantasy coffins in Ghana, Jazz funerals in New Orleans, and more!