WWW: The Meaning behind Día de los Muertos

¡Feliz viernes a todos!

Thanks for stopping by the blog this week!  In light of the upcoming celebrations for Día de los Muertos, I am featuring a great short film (about three minutes in length) that really moves the viewer to understand the meaning and importance behind Día de los Muertos.

From the description of the publishers, “[In] this beautifully animated, and heart felt, short film about a little girl who visits the land of the dead, […] she learns the true meaning of the Mexican holiday, Día de los Muertos.”  The main character is first seen at the cemetery, visiting the gravesite of a loved one, when she finds a flower that pulls her into the party of afterlife.  She is given guidance by a friendly skeleton, who feeds her fruits and bread, and turns out to be the very loved one who’s gravesite the little girl was visiting.  It’s a brief, three-minute-long film that can explain Día de los Muertos in a much easier, more emotional relatable way than just reading a description of the holiday online or out of a book.  We think this short could be easily incorporated into a class discussion about Día de los Muertos, and could be used as a base for discussing traditions, afterlife, honoring the dead, and multicultural holidays. Typical celebrations of Día de los Muertos are large and contain many factors, like the building of ofrendas, baking, dancing, and painting.  However, the most important aspect of the holiday is the honoring of the ancestors and I think this short film does a great service in displaying that.  I hope this short film can bring some fun and a deeper understanding to you and your students as we move closer and closer to celebrating Día de los Muertos!

With warmest wishes,

Charla

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Image: Photo of Skeletons Playing Instruments. Reprinted from Flickr user Columbarium under CC ©.

 

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