The hubs in his Day of the Dead face paint, 2010
Celebrating Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos was not a typical celebration in my family. My grandparents were very religious. Our way of celebrating someone’s passing is by praying the rosary for 9 days for their souls to be forgiven and for it to reach heaven, this was called novenario.
I grew up disliking prayer mainly because i was unaware of what we were doing. Perhaps also because of all the deaths we were surrounded by. My grandfather was good for volunteering his home to hold this ritual of novenario.
I guess you can say celebrating day of the dead goes against what we were doing in the novenario
Day the dead is when the souls come roam around the living for a day.
The reason I decided to celebrate this in my own family is to remember my grandparents.
We aren’t as religious as my grandparents were though my beliefs still remain the same.
Celebrating day of the dead would mean a specific day for my kids to remember and talk about my grandparents or any other loved ones who have passed.
When creating an alter for them this year, I decided to create something playful that my kids could be a part of.
We did a Shoebox Altar and talked about my grandparents, what they looked like, what they loved, and how they were. Though little man and little lady only understand somethings it was clear that grandpa loved chocolates and grandma loved chips.
We also created some calveras to adorn around the house. It also went perfect with much of our halloween decor.
You can find both of our activities at SpanglishBaby.com
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