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Welcome to another edition of the Virtual Refrigerator! Thank you for joining me and my co-hosts for our weekly art link-up. We all cordially invite you to add your link sharing artwork that's on your Virtual Refrigerator and then hop over to the other blogs and admire what's on their Fridges too!
I originally shared the Papel Picado project two years ago on the Virtual Fridge (see it HERE), but it seems like the Day of the Dead themed decorations and costumes are particularly popular for Halloween this year, so I chose this from our archives to display again today.
Papel Picado means 'pierced paper', and is a banner made of cut paper designs often used for special occasions in Mexico. Authentic Papel Picado is cut from tissue paper, and the artists use a mallet to punch through the papers. When we did it, we used leftover solid color gift-wrap paper, and a template to trace the design, then cut it out with scissors. We taped the papers to a string and tied our banner in front of the window.
The templates we used were for Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) or for Halloween, but Papel Picado are used for all kinds of celebrations in Latin America. So what is Dia de los Muertos all about? It's celebrated in parts of Mexico on November 1 and 2, which are the dates of the Catholic All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. The indigenous people combined these Christian celebrations with their own ancient beliefs of honoring deceased loved ones. People make elaborately decorated altars in their homes, using candles, flowers, lots of food and drink, toys, and candies for the spirits of the deceased that they believe are able to come visit their loved ones on these days. They even move the celebration to the cemetery on the afternoon of November 2, where they play games, enjoy music, clean the tombs, and reminisce about their loved ones. Unlike many of the gruesome and morbid Halloween activities that we see, where evil and demonic forces are the focus, Dia de los Muertos celebrations are festive and family-oriented. The beautifully decorated sugar skulls have been a part of Mexican Dia de los Muertos traditions since the 18th century. They are used as part of the displays and feature big smiles and colorful icing and decorations. (Find out more about Day of the Dead and the Sugar Skull traditions at MexicanSugarSkull.com)
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| Sugar Skull colored by KAT, October 2016 |
As Christians, we don't believe that spirits of the deceased can come visit with us, but I do like the idea of honoring the memories of our loved ones and remembering them with joy. And I definitely like that we can look forward to seeing them in heaven some day.
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." ~John 11:25-27
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I encourage you to visit A Net In Time today, where she's sharing a guest post from me about one of my all-time favorite art books. She's doing a series on art books, with some guest posts along the way, and this week it was my turn. So go visit and find out more about a great resource that combines art and social studies - Geography Through Art by Sharon Jeffus and Jamie Aramini. Which is, of course, the book that inspired our Papel Picado project, and several other paper-cutting projects we've done!
Now it's your turn! Join us by sharing your art posts here on the Virtual Fridge!
Grab a virtual magnet and add your link here to share your child's art or your arts and crafts how-to posts. Please visit the other blogs and admire what's on their Virtual Refrigerators!
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1 comments:
So very neat! We have tons of tissue paper.... we might have to make something like this.
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