Diá de los Muertos

This year, we celebrated Diá de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  We have been studying the Aztecs, and this holiday originated with Aztec tradition.  I thought it would be fun to learn about Diá de los Muertos as it was being celebrated all around us.  We went to a workshop with Nelda Reyes of Grupo Condor on making sugar skulls to celebrate the holiday. Nelda had a lovely ofrenda (altar) for us to see that she had made for her great-grandmother.  She picked out items to place on the ofrenda that were either traditional to the holiday or of special significance in remembering her great-grandmother and what she enjoyed.  Jasper was given a white sugar paste to make a skull, and everyone had icing and jewels to embellish the skulls.  I thought Jasper could make a skull for a grandparent or great grandparent, but these were not people he knew himself.  He asked Nelda if it would be okay for him to make one for his cat.  But he told her he did not want to "make his cat dead" because it would make him very sad.  So he wanted to make his cat look alive.  Nelda graciously advised that he was definitely free to do that.  He made himself a sugar cat!  I can't say it actually resembled his kitty very much.  But he had tears in his eyes as he made it, remembering how much he loved his kitty.  Then Nelda asked everyone to go around the room and explain who their ofrenda was for and what that person particularly liked.  Several families that had come to the workshop had suffered losses recently.  I found sharing a little about the loved ones we were missing was really a moving experience.  I decided this is a wonderful holiday!  

Every year Milagro Theatre in Portland celebrates Diá de los Muertos in style, and this year was no different.  I took Jasper to see their wonderful play RAÍZ, which weaves the story of the Aztec gods into the story of two pairs of sweethearts celebrating Diá de los Muertos.  It's a small theatre that has collected some amazing talent.  Jasper was sitting in a lucky seat.  He found himself chosen to perform a small part in the play, in pouring a bag of earth onto the floor along with several other audience members, as a sort of offering. Jasper was really excited!  He loved the play and thought it was funny and moving.  We had checked out half a dozen books from the library on this holiday, but none were as thorough about explaining the holiday as Milagro Theatre was on their website.  (Since I am assuming they will remove the page for RAÍZ soon, I found another internet site with the same article here.) We were excited to discover this wonderful theatre!  (Their next production is a play about the life of Frida Kahlo... check it out!)

Then on the actual Diá de los Muertos, we made an ofrenda for our late cat.  We visited a Mexican bakery to get some Pan de Muertos, special egg-batter bread.  We found a picture that Jasper had taken of his kitty, and he made a fancy frame for it.  We had chicken for dinner, since one tradition is to dine on something the deceased was fond of eating, and placed some on the ofrenda. We placed a black cloth on the ofrenda, because while I folded the laundry our kitty would never fail to select the black clothing to use as a pillow. We also had a can of tuna, and Jasper drew a picture of his kitty,  swimming with a giant tuna fish and its baby, under the sea near an undersea volcanic vent.  He has been really into drawing mazes lately, so he drew a maze for his kitty with a cat at the start and a mouse at the finish.  We also placed a black cloth on the ofrenda, because while I folded the laundry our kitty would never fail to select the black clothing to use as a pillow.  While Jasper was very serious about all this, the ofrenda definitely provided an opportunity to remember his dear cat with joy and humor.  Which definitely seems to be the spirit of the holiday!