After viewing a slideshow about Dias De Los Muertos that Tr. Ann wrote earlier this week, we were very excited about today's project: setting up the kindergarten ofrenda. Each kindergartner collected the special things that he/she made by hand last week and added his/her pieces to the ofrenda table positioned under the papel picado banner in the center of our classroom.
Our ofrenda is as colorful as it is sparkly. It is covered with brightly-decorated sugar skulls, tissue paper flowers, tin art butterfly decorations, chili peppers, silk flowers, fruit, candles and candleholders, Mexican pottery, and photos and drawings of loved ones who are no longer with us. We made glittery frames for photos of our monarchs, too!
After our ofrenda was complete we gathered for snack with the lights off so we could enjoy the ofrenda for a time of remembrance in candlelight as is traditional in Mexico. For morning snack we shared round loaves of pan de muertos (a traditional sweet bread of Dias de Los Muertos) and warm tortillas that were made at Tortilleria San Roman the same morning in Phildelphia! (Muchas gracias, Daniel, for the extra special delivery this morning!)
