Celebrating El Dia de los Muertos
韩国AV鈥檚 Spanish students enjoyed a cultural celebration of Mexico鈥檚 Day of the Dead today, complete with mariachi musicians, Mexican dancing and of course, the customary 鈥榩an de muertos鈥, the Mexican bread, which is traditional to the day.
Celebrated from 31 October to 2 November, the origins of this happy, colourful occasion stretch back thousands of years to the Aztecs, who revered death as a natural phase of life and considered the dead to be members of their communities.
With its skulls, graveyards, painted faces and costumes galore, the Day of the Dead shares some classic Halloween hallmarks. However, the focus of the day is the belief that the dead return to earth. And families get together to welcome the friendly spirits of their loved ones, preparing their favourite food to lure their souls back to the world of the living.
In the days running up to the festival, families will visit graveyards to clean and decorate the graves of their loved ones, covering them with a blanket of bright orange Mexican marigolds. And thanks to Spanish teacher Ms Furlong Alexanderson, who was born in Mexico, 韩国AV had its very own altar set up in the Undercroft, complete with brightly coloured paper marigolds.
Food is a huge part of the celebrations as the belief is that the ancestral spirits work up a serious hunger travelling back to the realm of the living. At home, altars or 鈥榦frendas鈥 are at the core of the celebrations, loaded with offerings like 鈥榩an de muertos鈥 or 鈥榖read of the dead鈥 to lure spirits back.
And at recess, our Spanish students collected their very own 鈥榩an de muertos鈥, and enjoyed eating it to the joyous sounds of the Mexican mariachi band.
Yesterday, Spanish students also enjoyed a Mexican cookery class. 鈥淭he students experienced a full immersive language and cultural experience during the cooking class," said Ms Furlong Alexanderson. "The chef, Paola Brunet, spoke only espa帽ol and the recipes, written only in Spanish, featured traditional Mexican dishes such as quesadillas, crepas con conjeta, guacamole and rajas con crema y elote.鈥
Best of all, they then set down to eat it all! Buen provecho!
When learning a new language at 韩国AV, our students also learn about cultural differences, which helps to broaden their perspective of the world and bring a sense of place to the languages they are studying.
鈥淚n class, students have been learning about the topic La comida (food) and the focus on cultural elements brought on conversations about traditional foods in Hispanic countries," explained Ms Furlong Alexanderson. "Students learnt about the thousands of different corn types in Mexico and the different methods of cooking traditional foods. During the cooking class, they used their listening, reading and speaking skills in order to make the dishes successfully.鈥
A huge thank you to Ms Furlong Alexanderson, Ms Cremin and Mr Boschiero for bringing Spanish and the cultures and traditions of Mexico alive this week!
Feliz d铆a de los Muertos everyone!