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Let’s learn about Día de los Muertos

Our family doesn’t observe this holiday, but since non-Chicanx folks tend to conflate, confuse, and appropriate traditions without understanding the deeper meanings, let’s learn more about it so we can stay in our lane.

Remember: appreciation, not appropriation! So for those of you who don’t celebrate Día de los Muertos, here are some intro books on the practices of the day and origins behind calaveras, beyond just the problematic stuff you learned from watching The Crow as a tween.

What we can celebrate are the delightful similarities our kids will find as we learn how this holiday echoes our own traditions during Qingming, Samhain, Halloween, and the Hungry Ghost Festival. As we learn more about this holiday, and our own ancestral traditions, the Earthquakes feel more connected without the envy. Recognizing all people around the world honoring our ancestors are an ‘us.’

When is it?

• Starts midnight 11/1 and continues for through midnight on 11/2.

Read:

• Día de los Muertos (ages 2-4) Eliot
• Día de los Muertos (ages 4-8) Thong
• Funny Bones (ages 6-10)

Watch

• Coco. I haven’t found a book that can hold a candle to this movie. SO good! ALL THE HAPPY UGLY CRYING.

Family discussion:

• Why should we avoid conflating Día de los Muertos and Halloween?
• What rituals do our family celebrate to venerate, honor, or acknowledge our ancestors and loved ones who have died?
• What do Día de los Muertos and our own family practices have in common?

Reflections:

Last year we made small sugar skulls to honor the family we’ve lost over the last few years and connect the stories we’ve read with a tangible act of caring. The kids were excited about the sugar – but were pulled into this act of reflection, consideration, and loss.

I haven’t found any great #OwnVoices guides on how to respectfully learn about and orchestrate this while supporting #OwnVoices businesses, but I’ll update this if/when I do.

Additional resources to dig deeper:

• More children’s books about Día De Los Muertos