Excuse that they are all in Spanglish but Day of the Dead snuck up on me this year, I didn’t set up an altar like I inteded! Given the rising popularity of the holiday in the U.S., these carry the culture and explain the customs for beginners to get started setting up their ofrendas.
1. The Ofrenda that We Built
Written by a mother daughter duo Jolene & Shaian Gutiérrez and illustrated by Gabby Zapata. This book is delectable to the eyes. I love the brown tones of the characters’ skin, their traditional clothing & the detail given to their home & altar! My favorite is them using vasos de vela, flower-decorated glasses usually saved from burned candles in México, in their ofrenda. Zapata transmits the four elements wholy in her drawings while the Gutiérrez’s rhyming & metered text work as an oral pattern commemorating traditon.
Out of the three books I am sharing today, this is the most detailed in the back matter, explaining what must be included in an ofrenda & how to make papel picado. For a cool tuturial on how to make paper cempasúchiles/marigolds, please refer to the reel by Juan el Abuelo!
This title also gets more personal about the significance of the holiday for bonding with elders & our Mexican heritage. Linking my children to their ancestry is a big reason why I want to begin a day of the dead altar tradition. It is also the reason why my neighbor created one this year for the first time.
2. Little Monster, What Pan Dulce Do You Want? / ¿Monstruito, qué pan dulce quieres?
Written by bilingual independent publisher Lil’ Libros and illustrated by Ana C. Esparza. My daughter LOVES this board book! A plus that it is bilingual. The text is sparce, perfect for babies and toddlers & the illustrations a charm. There is humor in its few pages & I love that it is not too spooky as you see that the goblins and devils are actually children dressed up for the ocassion. This can be read for Halloween as well. Back matter describes the types of sweet breads featured . My daughter has finally tried all of them as of this year, since she finally ate pan de muerto.
Pan de muerto is round like the circle of life and has bones on top to symbolize death & how the two are meshed together. In some regions of México and Latinamerica they are shaped like a body/skeleton. Below you can get a glimse of the bread as well as my aforementioned neighbor’s altar:
Written by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and illustrated by Carles Ballesteros. You might say Greenfield Thong is just one of those gringas jumping on the bilingual book bandwagon. Except she has a repertoire of international, culturally sensitive children’s books to her name, including those celebrating Hispanic heritage like Round is a Tortilla, One is a Piñata, and Green is a Chile Pepper.
But also, who are we to keep people in other cultures from honoring their dead? The whole concept of honoring death is very anti-Christian & anti-Western. As humans we have to cope with death & I think dia de muertos offers a therapeutic avenue to deal with loss in western cultures where you are meant to want to live forever, somehow.
My 4 year old recently started getting anxiety about dying, because she does not want to die, or her family to die. I think Day of the Dead offers some solace in the idea that nobody dies as long as they are remembered. These books are great for kids to combat anxiety about death and start accepting it as a part of life.
Greenfield Thong is much like Susan Middleton Elya: both write like native Spanish speakers. Although her rhymes are light and sing-songy, the deep meaning of the words she uses are not lost. For example, she relates that “toys for remembering small angelitos” are included in the Padilla altar. In Mexican-Catholic culture babies lost to miscarriage, childbirth or in toddlerhood are said to become immediate angels as they have not known sin. I think this is a lovely word to incluse in a book about Day of the Dead. The holiday might bring closure to mothers and fathers who have suffered these losses.
Like Middleton Elya, Greenfield Thong leans on her illustrators to make her cultural books accurate. Bellesteros, a Cataláno living in Chile, delivers in his happy geometric style, with the townspeople appearing to bounce off the page, eager to celebrate. Like Zapata, his spreads deliver the ornate details & colors that characterize this holiday.
Last Words
But not *my last words,* ha ha. I wanted to *leave you* with tips on how to acknowlege the holiday if making an ofrenda seems too overwhelming.
Since the quarantine in 2020, I have made it intentional to have a “lantern walk” with my family the evening of November 2nd. So far weather has cooperated. This idea came to me a little from Disney’s Coco but more from adjusting the fall Tinkergarten lantern walk to fit the day of the dead traditon. I like how low maintanance this is for us, especially when my children were smaller. I simply told them, we can try to walk in silence remembering those we have lost (it can totally be pets) or listening to the sounds of life on a fall evening. I do like to add instrospection to the walk because we lack it in our everyday lives nowadays. Head on over to the Tinkergarten website for a how to on making lanterns.
Another way to get exposed to the tradition without having to necessarily lead it is to attend a Day of the Dead celebration. If there are not many locally, I am sure there is at least one in your vicinity, especially if you are in a border state. Celebrations range from Catrín and Catrina costume contests, Day of the Death ofrenda exhibitions, to more authentic Aztec or indigineous dances. Attending these events creates camaraderie within the community & are always open to those interested in learning more about the holiday/culture.
Speaking about or celebrating death with young children may seem morbid…but I think it actually builds acceptance and resilience. We cannot pretend we will live forever. Even if you believe in an afterlife, your children will have to deal with your death on Earth for a time. Aside from being ceremonious, día de los muertos makes this remembrance lively for those still on this side.
Biblioterika 