Dia de los Muertos: Celebrating Ancestry

 

I love Dia de los Muertos!  It's a Mexican holiday that celebrates our loved ones that have passed on, leaving what ultimately is a skeleton.  Skeletons aren't feared or considered to be anything other than their loved ones' remains.

Here's an explanation by Judy King that touches my heart:

 “The Mexican flatters death and woos death, he sings to her, dances with her, he laughs at her. Finally he challenges her and in the challenging, death loses her power to intimidate him. Once he knows death intimately, death is no longer wrapped in a cloak of mystery or causes him to fear the darkness

Once the fear of death has been defeated, the clutch she has on the hearts and minds of the living is lessened once and for all. Death’s morbid side is buried under music and remembrances, while skeletons laugh and dance and sing as Mexico celebrates life in its embrace of death.”

The photo above is a ceramic box I made years ago.  It has a skeleton couple on top (a very common scene in Dia de los Muertos art)

 

In this closeup of the shrine, you can see that I added tiny photos of my parents in their youth.  All the decorations on the cake are ceramic.  The tryptic frame/stand is painted foam core board. I added lots of glitter, skulls, angels and the Virgin of Guadalupe at the top.

For the typical 3 day celebration, the families of the town would clean up the graves sites of their loved ones and decorate them with marigolds and candles on the evening of October 31st, and then the celebration begins. 

The Mexican s believe it would be an insult to their ancestors to be sad during the celebration.  I read somewhere that the road the spirits follow back to home would be made slippery with tears.  Instead, they laugh and sharing memories, feast together, making sure to bring the favorite foods of their ancestors (the delicious smells help them find their way home).

Here are some history links for more info:

AZ Central and Sugar Skull Tradition

I highly recommend visiting the Crafty Chica.  Kathy's whole family does wonderful Dia de los Muertos art!

Also, this post is part of Mary England's Celebration Blog Party

Around the World Inspired Crafts

The Cool2Craft TV show theme for this week is Around the World.  We're celebrating art and craft influences from all over!

My craft project this week is a super green craft!  It starts with paper coffee cups.  I cut off the rim, wrap it with fabric scraps and embellish it with bits of wire.
You can find the video and written tutorial on cool2craft.com.  Be sure to check out all the projects!  Do you have projects you'd like to share?  Check out our Linky Party each week for a new theme - you'll find the Linky Party button on cool2craft.com, too!  You can enter the party with a link tp a project.  Go on!  It's easy!
If you don't have a blog or website, just email me with high resolution photos and a story, so I can share it on our Creative Community Blog!
Happy crafting!

Year Round Celebration Tree

 After the holidays this year, I got an awesome deal on a small lighted tree in an urn.  I've wanted one for years!  I decided to celebrate my year of harmony and robots by keeping it decorated! 
Right now it's a Valentine tree!  See the jar in front of it?  It's a Scentsy warmer.  In fact it's Scentsy's warmer of the month!

 What I love most about it is that the small glass heart on the front is lit by a hole in the jar, AND if you look up and to the right of the jar, you'll see the feint  heart shaped light.  I wish I could have picked it up better because it's so cool!  It casts heart shaped lights all around on the walls! This is the kind of thing that makes me want to sing!  My Sister-in-law sells Scentsy if you're interested (https://debbiesimmons.scentsy.us/).

I made an ornament for the top of the tree with my new Sizzix die cutter, card stock, beads and tissue paper.  There's a light right at the top of the tree, so it shines through the tissue paper!

The best part of this morning was my hubby making me heart shaped bacon and heart shaped pancakes!  Yea!  Have a fabulous Valentine's Day!