Good morning! Did you know today is a holiday?
Feliz “Día de los muertos” – Happy Day of the Dead!
Have you heard of this holiday? Do you know what it is?
This is a bright and colorful celebration. Although the heart of the holiday is to remember those who have passed, the festivity itself is focused on their lives and the happiness connected to them.
It does have a bittersweet essence and is a special time to consider special emotions.
For me, as someone who did not grow up recognizing this holiday or even being aware that it was a thing, I didn’t realize just how important it is to people from latin-american countries, especially Mexico.
I realized how important it was when I experienced the excitement and passion from one of our teachers, Ana, who is from Mexico, as she explained it to me a few years ago.
She loves Day of the Dead and celebrates it every year.
She gets as excited about it as I do Christmas.
She decorates her house, cooks special dishes, and really looks forward to the holiday just like any other.
That’s when I realized that it is a very important holiday for many Latin people, and I think that our Spanish students learning about this holiday will reinforce the importance of being inquirers who are open-minded and reflective about the cultures of others.
Also, we are seeing more and more of this holiday mixing with our “Halloween” (since they take place around the same time frame) as we see sugar skulls and “Day of the Dead” decorations all over, even in WalMart.
Your child may already know a little bit about it if they’ve seen the recent famous movie “Coco”?
If they haven’t seen it, I recommend watching it! It’s a really great movie!
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This week, the theme of the week in our online Spanish classes is “Day of the Dead”!
I think that our Spanish students learning about this holiday will reinforce the importance of being inquirers who are open-minded and reflective about the cultures of others.
Ana, who as you know is one of our online Spanish teachers, is from Mexico, and she will actually be sharing her ofrenda LIVE with the students and teaching them about what Day of the Dead is.
Cool, right!? I’m so excited for her to share this with the students.
We will also have other activities throughout the week such as learning a song in Spanish from the movie Coco, creating a flower craft, exploring a mini “museum” that Ms. Lourdes has created in her basement, and playing a trivia game!
If you want to learn a little bit about this holiday yourself, you can read about it here. (use this link: https://www.si.edu/blog/5-facts-about-dia-de-los-muertos-day-dead?fbclid=IwAR3CSA8Rw_PJwWiRAJIu23bHehtOsoVMGyzC0bMwEOwQR4esUCsF_bPjN38)
I wanted to share this picture of Ana with you. This is her the other day, taken in front of her Día de los muertos altar in her home in San Antonio, TX.
We’re so excited to teach all about this holiday and lead the students in more fun Spanish activities!
Have a great day!
Ms. Sarah
PS: If you want your child to participate in our Spanish classes this week or have access to the recordings, you can get them in for FREE by signing up here
