Cultural Connections Project
This project was called Cultural Connections and it mainly focused on the a Mexican Tradition called Dia de Los Muertos. This day originally takes place on the 1st and 2nd of November. This day's purpose is to create an offering to all our loved ones who have passed away. This day is to remember them and to offer them things after their long journey of life as their spirits come to earth this day of the dead. This offering contains many things about the person and for the person we're honoring. This ofrenda has to have a picture of the person that passed away, possesions of the person, flowers (marigolds/cempasutchil these are the flowers for the dead, specifically), the food that they liked or any food, the four elements (fire,water,air and earth), and usually these are 3 level altars. The four elements are water which we all put drinks or water to let them drink after they're tired. Fire, we put some candles which can represent the fire and also the soul. Air, we used banners which have beautiful and creative designs and they move with wind. Earth, this would be the food because the food comes from natural resources and that represented the natural living. This Day is very important in the Mexican Culture because it encourages others to not forget about the ones who have passed away, and to also offer the spirits food and drinks to finally celebrate that they can rest after their long journey. Our class got to also make an exhibition and display these with other people who usually do this for their family and also at the Mexican Consulate.
1. How challenging was this project for you?
This project was very fun and unteresting. I was surprised on how my classmates were very interested in learning other cultural traditions and customs. It's definitely something we need in all schools. We need other cultural inputs to be more open minded and learn more. This was a great opportunity for me to share my experience with el Dia De Los Muertos. Since I am mexican, and I attended to a Mexican school for about 5 years I have definitely done lots of projects about this. It wasn't challenging for me because it wasn't my first time doing this. I was very happy to show my classmates about how to make thier offerings and altars. I shared tricks on how to make some flowers and how to make other things to make the altar be better. I enjoyed helping others and making my own and embrace my culture.
2. What did you enjoy most about this Cultural Connections project?
Like I have mentioned before this was a time for me to embrace my own culture and help my classmates on how to create an altar. I am glad that we get to share about different cultures, since I am also exploring others specially when I moved to the United States. It was definitely a change for me but I really admire all cultures. It's definitely a time to explore and learn and I really was able to do that in this project. Not that I didn't knnow anything but how other cultures portrayed this in their own life as a good and interesting influence.
3. Did you receive feedback on your project? Who was it? Did it help?
I did! I definitely asked my parents for help and my fellow classmates. They provided feedback in how I could manage the color and if I needed to add more things. My mom helped me on adding more things and that definitely helped me and also she is more used to maling them because she also attended to a school in Mexico. I received feedback from my classmates and it was helpful because they made my prject be better on for example adding more flowers or adding more food and possesions because they were required.
4. What grade do you think you deserve? Why?
I think I deserve an A. I say this because I met all requirements and I was able to finish it on time. I was glad we got to touch on more about Mexican culture not only on this annual tradition but on how the country came to be and even on the Mexican Revolution! I actually made my ofrenda honorin g one of the most influential and succesful leaders from the revolution, I did Emiliano Zapata. I included all that needed to be included and participated in one of the exhibitions.
5.If you could change something about this project what would it be? Why?
The time given for the project. Since this isn't something ou can get done in a day or in three days, we could've definitely had more time. Since this is something new for majority of my classmates they had no idea how to start. I would definitely would give them time to figure out what they were doing and have time to make it as best as possible but overall it was a great opportunity to learn more and grow as students.
Here's a link to my artist statement: docs.google.com/document/d/1q9UZX5Xyp53Q1T7VN0omjITaH0epnTfB2u211ul7BkA/edit
Here's also a link to a story I created about Dia De Los Muertos and it's in english and spanish: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_peAEc0IaAGciekRUuXdUnHDORW9SBSNJlq1OHuVH40/edit
1. How challenging was this project for you?
This project was very fun and unteresting. I was surprised on how my classmates were very interested in learning other cultural traditions and customs. It's definitely something we need in all schools. We need other cultural inputs to be more open minded and learn more. This was a great opportunity for me to share my experience with el Dia De Los Muertos. Since I am mexican, and I attended to a Mexican school for about 5 years I have definitely done lots of projects about this. It wasn't challenging for me because it wasn't my first time doing this. I was very happy to show my classmates about how to make thier offerings and altars. I shared tricks on how to make some flowers and how to make other things to make the altar be better. I enjoyed helping others and making my own and embrace my culture.
2. What did you enjoy most about this Cultural Connections project?
Like I have mentioned before this was a time for me to embrace my own culture and help my classmates on how to create an altar. I am glad that we get to share about different cultures, since I am also exploring others specially when I moved to the United States. It was definitely a change for me but I really admire all cultures. It's definitely a time to explore and learn and I really was able to do that in this project. Not that I didn't knnow anything but how other cultures portrayed this in their own life as a good and interesting influence.
3. Did you receive feedback on your project? Who was it? Did it help?
I did! I definitely asked my parents for help and my fellow classmates. They provided feedback in how I could manage the color and if I needed to add more things. My mom helped me on adding more things and that definitely helped me and also she is more used to maling them because she also attended to a school in Mexico. I received feedback from my classmates and it was helpful because they made my prject be better on for example adding more flowers or adding more food and possesions because they were required.
4. What grade do you think you deserve? Why?
I think I deserve an A. I say this because I met all requirements and I was able to finish it on time. I was glad we got to touch on more about Mexican culture not only on this annual tradition but on how the country came to be and even on the Mexican Revolution! I actually made my ofrenda honorin g one of the most influential and succesful leaders from the revolution, I did Emiliano Zapata. I included all that needed to be included and participated in one of the exhibitions.
5.If you could change something about this project what would it be? Why?
The time given for the project. Since this isn't something ou can get done in a day or in three days, we could've definitely had more time. Since this is something new for majority of my classmates they had no idea how to start. I would definitely would give them time to figure out what they were doing and have time to make it as best as possible but overall it was a great opportunity to learn more and grow as students.
Here's a link to my artist statement: docs.google.com/document/d/1q9UZX5Xyp53Q1T7VN0omjITaH0epnTfB2u211ul7BkA/edit
Here's also a link to a story I created about Dia De Los Muertos and it's in english and spanish: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_peAEc0IaAGciekRUuXdUnHDORW9SBSNJlq1OHuVH40/edit