Day 309---Tuesday

I learned a lot with J doing this project, an altar for Dia de las Muertas---Day of the Dead. It's a tradition for people in Mexico or other Latin American countries to set up these displays in their homes. J did his project on his Papa, who passed away in August.
The altars contain:
A photo
A cross
Food for the spirits returning (fruit and pan de muertos bread)---I thought it was interesting that the living are welcome to eat the food dedicated to the loved one. The spirit would return and eat the spirit of the food, and therefore, the food is there with no nutritional value.
A candle---and maybe an extra for a forgotten soul
Papel picado---cut paper; J and I made some miniature ones for the box
things to freshen up from his long trip from the spirit world---in this box, a comb
some candy that Papa would like
other things from Papa's life---a coin and a ribbon that had his Masonic symbols on them, and he used red and white colors to represent Axtell, where he lived a long time and was on the school board for a long time.

All in all, we wouldn't really believe in this spirit coming back to our home quite like this, but it was a good exercise in gathering things that were meaningful and special to us.