2nd November Day of the Dead All Souls' Day

Day of the Dead combines the ancient Aztec custom of celebrating ancestors with All Souls' Day, a holiday that Spanish invaders brought to Mexico starting in the early 1500s.

Occasionally I get asked for books in Spanish because we have some Spanish speaking families and because Spanish is taught in the primary classes. 

Some Roman Catholics celebrate All Souls' Day, the day after All Saints' Day (All Hallows' Day)which is the day after All Hallows' Eve (or Halloween). The Year 1s at my school used to do a unit of inquiry which looked at celebrations and festivals around the world. For this reason I purchased these books for the library.  We already had some general celebrations books where these days  were mentioned but these added some  stories.

• The Day of the Dead  by Bob Barner (English and Spanish)

• Barrette: A Kite for the Day of the Dead  by Elisa Armado Our version is in English)

• Felipa and the Day of the Dead by Birte Muller 

• Gustavo, the Shy Ghost  by Flavia Z. Drago

• Clatter Bash! A Day of the Dead Celebration by Richard Keep

You could also add this new book

• Our Day of the Dead Celebration by Ana Aranda

or the one Duncan Tonatiuh has doing for publication next year 

• Dia de Muertos: Numeros: A Day of the Dead Counting Book

1st November All Saints Day

Year 1 is doing a unit of study on Celebrations and I've had to do a bit of reading this week. Why do teachers think that the librarian knows everything?   T: Why is it called Halloween?  L: Well it comes from the the Eve of All Hallow's.
T: But what is All Hallows? L: Isn't it another name for All Saints Day. 
T: Well what is All Saints Day? L: I think it is the day before All Soul's Day.
So went one conversation I had before I thought I had better do some reading. I found it easy to find books and information about Halloween and its history. The others were harder.

I found this website about All Saints Day helpful and here I read that  it is a day when many Christians remember and honour the saints. Now although I teach at a Christian school it is not a Catholic school and therefore not a lot of emphasis is placed on saints in a religious context. However in a historical context there are many picture books depicting the life of saints. Many of these tell amazing stories and have brilliant illustrations.
Look for these by Demi:
• The Legend of St Nicholas describes the pivotal events in the history and life of the saint who inspired the legend of Santa Claus.
• Mother Teresa  of is a biography of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, known as Mother Teresa for all her time spent helping the poor in Calcutta, India.
• Joan of Arc
These two by Joyce Denham
• Patrick: Saint of Ireland
• Saint Francis of Assisi
And two by Tomie dePaola
• The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica 
• Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland

Then I looked up All Soul's Day and learned that this is a day for  Christian communities to remember deceased family members and friends. This is more like the idea behind the Mexican/ Latin American Day of the Dead. There are also picture books about this day. Among them are:
• Felipa and the Day of the Dead by Birte Muller
• Maria Molina and the Days of the Dead by Kathleen Krull
• Day of the Dead by Tony Johnston & Jeanette Winter
• Calavera Abecedario: A Day of the Dead Alphabet  Book by Jeanette Winter
• Ghost Wings by Barbara Joose & Giselle Potter

So this week I have learned quite a bit about Christian celebrations and some of the pagan connections with them.