Halloween in Mexico Dia De Los Muertos

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Halloween in MexicoDia De Los Muertos
A Third through Fifth Grade Lesson By Tami Ryon
Fall 2007
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Dia de los Muertos

• This holiday celebrates the day of the dead.
• It is a two day celebration on November 1st and
  November 2nd.
• The first day celebrates friends and/or relatives
  that are under the age of 18 and were unmarried.
• The second day celebrates friends and/or
  relatives that are over 18 years old and married.

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How Dia de los Muertos is CelebratedGraveside

• Families clean and decorate graves with ofrendas,
  offerings.
• Some of the offerings include orange marigold
  called cempasuchil, originally named
  cempaxochitl, Flor de Muerto, Spanish for "Flower
  of the Dead". These flowers are thought to
  attract souls of the dead to the offerings.
• Families will put toys on childrens graves, los
  angelitos or little angels and tequila mexcal,
  pulque, or atole for adults.

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How Dia de los Muertos is Celebrated

• Some families build altars or small shrines in
  their homes.
• They contain the Christian cross, statues or
  pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pictures of
  the deceased relatives and other persons, and
  scores of candles.
• This is used for the family to spend time around
  praying and telling anecdotes about the deceased.
• Some people wear shells on their clothing so when
  they dance around the dead can hear them and wake
  up.

This picture is of an altar in Los Angeles to pay
homage to dead television shows, with traditional
marigolds, sugar skulls and candles.
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Symbols of Dia de los Muertos

• A common symbol of the holiday is the skull
  called calavera.
• Celebrants represent calaveras in masks, called
  calacas. Which means Skeleton.
• Some foods that are used in the celebrations are
  sugar skulls, which are inscribed with the name
  of the recipient on the forehead. (Sugar skulls
  are gifts that can be given to both the living
  and the dead.) Pan de muerto, a sweet egg bread
  made in various shapes, from plain rounds to
  skulls and rabbits often decorated with white
  frosting to look like twisted bones.

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Halloween versus Day of the Dead

• Halloween
• Children go trick or treating in costumes and
  knock on peoples doors
• A scary holiday
• Get treats and give treats to others.

• Day of the Dead
• Children wear Calaveras and ask people for
  calaverita, a small gift of money.
• A joyful celebration
• Get treats and give treats to others, mainly
  desists.

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Activity for the Day of the Dead

• We will make a shrine for a made up character.
• We will have a hand drawn picture of a person
  that the whole class added something to it eye,
  nose, ears, hair, etc.
• We will have handmade flowers to look like
  cempasuchil. It will contain the Christian
  cross, a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and
  scores of candles.
• We will be making calavera and Pan de muerto, for
  the children to taste and decorate.

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Questions

• How do children in Mexico and children in the
  United States dress during Halloween?
• Name some of the things that Mexicans give at
  Halloween and some of the things Americans give
  at Halloween?
• What is the date that Americans and Mexicans
  celebrate Halloween?
• Why do you think Americans celebrate Halloween at
  night and Mexicans celebrate it all day for 2
  days?
• What are some similarities and differences in the
  way that Mexicans celebrate Halloween and the way
  Americans celebrate Halloween?

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Resources

• Day of the Dead. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4,
  2007, from Wikipedia http//en.wikipedia.org/wik
  i/Day_of_the_Dead.
• I used this site to get information about the
  Day of the Dead in Mexico. I also used it to get
  almost all of my pictures in my presentation.
• Kenyon, Chelsie. (n.d.). Sugar Skulls. Retrieved
  October 4, 2007, from About.com
  http//mexicanfood.about.com/od/sweetsanddesserts/
  ss/candyskullhowto.htm
• I used this site to get the Sugar Skull
  recipe.
• 3. Kenyon, Chelsie. (n.d.). Pan de Muerto.
  Retrieved October 4, 2007, from About.com
  http//mexicanfood.about.com/od/sweetsanddesserts/
  r/pandemuerto.htm
• I used this site to get the picture of the Pan
  de Muerto and to get the recipe for it.