Day of the Dead
by C Kindelspire
We built a replica of an altar in Mexico for the Day of the Dead during Spanish class. The Day of the Dead is an important holiday in Mexico. The purpose of the Day of the Dead is to celebrate and remember deceased family and friends. The day of the Dead is celebrated in many ways. Most people believe that on the Day of the Dead the souls of the departed revisit the living. People decorate in cemeteries and in their homes. They clean the graves where their loved ones are buried and decorate them with flowers and items and foods the loved ones liked. The offerings that the people leave are called ofrendas. One of the main flower people use is the marigold, which is sometimes called “Flor de Muerto.” These flowers are thought to attract the souls. Some people also build altars in their homes. The altars usually have a cross, picture of the Virgin Mary, pictures of the deceased, and many candles and ofrendas. The candles are lit to help guide the way for the souls of the deceased to find the ofrendas, which are a welcome to the souls. Some popular ofrendas include candy, pan de muerto, sugar skulls, and other favorite food and beverages. Some people believe that the spirits eat the spiritual essence of the food that is left out for them. So when the celebrators eat the food, they believe it has no nutritional value. Sometimes pillows and blankets are left out so that the spirits can rest after their long journey.
We went on Long Distance Learning with several other schools from Nebraska. They each shared a presentation with us. Here is our presentation we shared with them:
Somos estudiantes de la escuela de Bruning-Davenport. Nuestro altar es en honor de un muerto. Nuestro altar tiene incienso, o copal, para guiar al muerto, flores porque al muerto le gusta mucho, la comida favorita del muerto: nocillo de chocolate, cola cao, pan de muerte, y galletas marias. También, nuestro altar tiene calaveras, velas, y los colores favoritos del muerto. ¡Feliz día de los muertos!
Translation:
We are students from the Bruning-Davenport School. Our altar is in honor of the dead. Our altar has incense, or copal, to guide the dead, flowers because the dead liked them, favorite food of the dead: nocillo de chocolate, cola cao, bread of the dead, and Marias cookies. Also, our altar has skulls, candles, and favorite colors of the dead. Happy Day of the Dead!
This is a container that is used to burn copal, which is incense.
All kinds of flowers are used to decorate the altars and graves.
These are some very popular foods in Spain.
Cola Cao (back left) is used to make chocolate milk or hot chocolate.
Nocilla is equivalent to our peanut putter but is hazelnut. It is most commonly used during snack time and put in milk, on ice cream, or spread on bread.
Abuelita is pure chocolate that is used to make hot chocolate.
Mole is a chocolate based sauce that is used to cook meats with.
Traditionally people give candy skulls as gifts.
