• Home
  • Our Shop
  • About Us
    • About MKB
    • Our Shop
    • MKB Board
    • Editorial Board and MKB Administrators
    • Our Contributors
    • For Bloggers: Join MKB
    • Books and Products from Our Members
    • Cultural Resources
    • Contact Us
  • Product Promotion Services
  • Blog Hops & Series
    • Holidays Around the World
      • Martin Luther King Day
      • Chinese New Year
      • Purim
      • Passover
      • Easter Around the World
      • Ramadan
      • Hajj (Eid al Adha)
      • Rosh Hashanah
      • Day of the Dead
      • Diwali
      • Hanukkah
      • Christmas in Different Lands
    • Heritage Months
      • Black History Month
      • Women’s History Month
      • Asian-Pacific Islander Heritage Month
      • Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month
      • Hispanic Heritage Month
      • Native American Heritage Month
    • Blogging Carnivals
    • Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop
    • Global Learning for Kids
  • Resources for Raising Global Citizens
  • Privacy Policy
  • Hanukkah
  • Christmas
  • Celebrate Christmas Around the World!

Multicultural Kid Blogs

For families and educators raising world citizens, through arts, activities, crafts, food, language, and love.

How To Set Up A Family Altar for Day of the Dead

October 26, 2016 by Johana Castillo

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

How to Set Up a Family Altar for Day of the Dead | Multicultural Kid Blogs

RELATED POST: Calavera Puppets for Day of the Dead

Every year, around the beginning of the fall, our family has the tradition of decorating, crafting and getting ready for the celebration of Day of the Dead! This is so important because for us, it is really difficult to travel back to our countries of origin, to pay our respects and visit our deceased family members in the cemetery.

Instead, we have a family altar in our home. Creating a family altar to offer homage and to teach my children about our deceased family members, is a wonderful way to bring our family together! Also, it offers us a healthy way to approach the subject of death with our children!

Preparations for el Día de los Muertos always start with setting up our family altar, a wooden shelf that my husband made and that all of us painted and decorated.

Every year we add a few new crafts, for example, last year my dear friend from Mexico brought us a few sugar skulls! I was so excited to know that you can keep them in your freezer all year long! When you are ready to take them out, you can let them chill in your refrigerator and they would be ready for your altar.

How to Set Up a Family Altar for Day of the Dead | Multicultural Kid Blogs

We also created paper flowers and papel picado banners. My daughter is an expert by now. We place every flower in the altar for remembrance of our family members.

How to Set Up a Family Altar for Day of the Dead | Multicultural Kid Blogs

This year, I ordered new things for our calacas (little figurines of skeletons.) The kids were really happy to set them up in new places!! Aren’t they super cute??

How to Set Up a Family Altar for Day of the Dead | Multicultural Kid Blogs

How to Set Up a Family Altar for Day of the Dead | Multicultural Kid Blogs

How to Set Up a Family Altar for Day of the Dead | Multicultural Kid Blogs

RELATED POST: Day of the Dead Facts in English and Spanish

This year on the day we created our family altar, we decided to make some empanadas in the form of sugar skulls, inspired by Crafty Chica. We used the following ingredients:

  • Premade pie crust (you can use gluten-free)
  • Filling ingredients (we used our mango preserved from last harvest season, ham and cheese)

How to Set Up a Family Altar for Day of the Dead | Multicultural Kid Blogs

  • Some egg wash (egg and water) to paint over the empanadas.

How to Set Up a Family Altar for Day of the Dead | Multicultural Kid Blogs

  • Some handy dandy sugar skulls cookie cuts.

How to Set Up a Family Altar for Day of the Dead | Multicultural Kid Blogs

These sugar skull empanadas were the perfect treat for Day of the Dead! My kids gave them two thumbs up!!

How to Set Up a Family Altar for Day of the Dead | Multicultural Kid Blogs

My multicultural family is trying to create a healthy family culture with respect and admiration for each tradition, such as creating our family altar for Day of the Dead. Having a family culture and the continuation of our family traditions mean so much to us!

We are so happy for MKB family in which we learn and share every day!

¡Feliz Día de Los Muertos!

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather
The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profileMy Pinterest profile

Johana Castillo

Johana lives in South Florida where she is raising a multicultural family, loves art, nature and tries to live her life in an intentional and spiritual way. Follow her site, Mama Tortuga, for bilingual adventures in parenthood, gardening, crafts, multicultural events and more!!
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profileMy Pinterest profile

Latest posts by Johana Castillo (see all)

  • How To Connect With Your Multicultural Community - April 30, 2018
  • Encouraging Conservancy by Visiting National Parks - March 17, 2017
  • How To Set Up A Family Altar for Day of the Dead - October 26, 2016

Filed Under: Day of the Dead, Family Activities, Learning About Culture, USA Tagged With: Altar, Day of the Dead, Day of the Dead crafts, Day of the Dead traditions, dia de los muertos, empanadas, familia, family celebration, family culture, sugar skulls, tradicion, tradition

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Comments

  1. Frances says

    October 26, 2016 at 6:46 am

    Johana what a great post! The calaca empandas look delish!!!

    • Frances says

      October 26, 2016 at 6:46 am

      I meant “skull” empanadas LOL

Trackbacks

  1. Food for Thought - By Catarina says:
    October 28, 2016 at 7:40 am

    […] of the force of life within us. Here you can read an account of a multicultural Halloween, here a post on how to set up a family altar for Day of the Dead  and here one family’s Diwali […]

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on Google+Follow Us on TwitterFollow Us on PinterestFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on Instagram

Anti-Bullying Resource FREE Download

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Grab Our Button!

grab button for Multicultural Kid Blogs
<div class="multicultural-kid-blogs-button" style="width: 200px; margin: 0 auto;"> <a href="https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/" rel="nofollow"> <img src="https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/button-take-3.jpg" alt="Multicultural Kid Blogs" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div>
Multicultural Children's Book Day Co-Host

Archives

Copyright © 2021 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT