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What I would like for students and teachers to gain from my lesson cycle is a deeper understanding or a deeper point of view on what is our beloved celebration of Dia de Los Muertos, for them to understand that Dia de Los Muertos is also a celebration of love that unites us all together. Additionally, I would also like for them to gain knowledge of how this celebration was before the Spanish arrived on our land and took very significant pieces of it to replace them with their beliefs. . . . And composing this lesson cycle taught me all of the efforts professors do for us to have this vast knowledge in each lesson! It is so much hard work and hours and hours of research and perfect planning for everything to come together. Teachers definitely need to be appreciated more for the hard work they do. -- M. Escarcega
Student Learning Goals and Outcomes
At the end of this cycle, students will be able to:
Understand the indigenous roots and origins of Día de Los Muertos Celebrations.
Understand the meaning behind all the things used to put up an Altar.
Gain knowledge of the goddess Mictecacihuatl.
Gain a more profound meaning of the holiday.
Foundational Texts
Foundational Texts
These texts/media will help us reach our learning goals
"La Ofrenda - The Days of the Dead" in Kanopy.
Day of the Dead: From Aztec Goddess worship to modern celebration By Professor Kirby Farah
The Aztec Origins of Día de Los Muertos By Kacey Diaz
"A Pre- Columbian Bestiary. Fantastic Creatures of Indigenous Latin America" By Ilan Stavans. Only the "Huitzin" chapter.
Study Questions
Study Questions
Upon completion of each text/media, a set of questions will be presented to the students to make them reflect on the information they learned. The following questions can be found here
Reflective Journal Prompt
Reflective Journal Prompt
What was your knowledge of the holiday before all of this information was presented to you? And how does the holiday look to you now that you have learned all of this information in the past lessons?
Was there any piece of information on the foundational texts that made the most impact on you?
If you were going to apply one newly learned concept to your next festivity of Día de Los Muertos, which one would it be?
Write about one of your experiences of Día de Los Muertos. It can be general, from putting up an Altar, going to a festival dedicated to the day, eating Pan de Muerto... You choose! There is no correct answer, just be specific about how you felt during the making of those activities.
End-of-Cycle Project
End-of-Cycle Project
Mini project for the end of Mictecacihuatl's lesson:
Having read the articles and answered the questions, take into thinking the information you just learned, and with that, make an illustration of how you think the Aztecs made their rituals for Mictecacihuatl.
Be sure to include Mictecacihuatl in some part of your piece.
Make sure to color it!
Project for the end of the whole lesson:
This project is called "Shoebox ofrenda"
At the end of the cycle, students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their gained knowledge about the elements/symbols of the Altares by making a mini-altar inside a box of shoes.
This is a tutorial on how to build one, or it can be an example of how it would look like.
To consider:
It doesn't have to be exactly like the one in the video, students can add more elements if they'd like.
It doesn't necessarily have to be in a shoebox, it can be done in any tiny box, as long as the altar can be made and elements can be added to it.
The photo does not have to be in a frame, but if the student chooses to put it that way, they can. The photo can also be printed.
The added flowers can be either from fabric or made from tissue paper.
Drawings for the offerings like the ones in the video can be added, but just 1-2 elements. If there are problems, talk to the teacher to reach an agreement to make the altar entirely from drawings.
The altares will be put up for exhibition so make sure they look presentable.
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