Day of Dead Presentation

This afternoon I did a presentation at the Buena Park Public Library. The topic was El Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead. This is the first year they have had this, so we had no idea how many people to expect or who our audience was going to be.

We got to the library about an hour before the scheduled start so that I could set up an altar and set up the computer and projector, etc. Here is the table just starting to set it up for the altar.

 

Next is the table set up. I didn't think the table was going to be this big, so the ofrendas had to be spaced out a little bit. But otherwise, I think it worked out okay.

 

Here is the section for Mom and Dad:

 

This one is especially for Dad. American flag and the fresh produce.

  

This one is for Mom. Figs, Pizza Hut pizza, and behind her picture is Chocolate Mexicano.

 

 And here I am trying to get everyone interested in finding out about their ancestors and doing family history.

 It was fun building an altar to honor my parents and my grandparents. It is the first time that I built one, and what I have learned is that anything goes. If this set up hadn't been at the library I probably would have included live plants and lots and lots of candles. Maybe more food items, also. As it was, I was glad to have my two greatest helpers, Hubby and Son, carry all of these ofrendas.

The  staff at the library was just great, but the best were the audience. They were genuinely interested in the topic. We had about 100 people, more than half were children. After the talk about the altar, there was a high school group dancing folkloric numbers. The children and parents then painted masks and enjoyed refreshments that included Pan de Muertos.

When we finally got home, Hubby and I were literally exhausted, but it was a good tired, a satisfied tired.