DIA DE LOS MUERTOS (Day of the Dead)

I know Tia Lee Anna knows about Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), but I thought I would share with all...

Day of the Dead is a family event to remember ancestors, whose spirits visit the earth once a year. This concept of the cycle or circle of life is a strong tradition with many native and indigenous peoples worldwide, says Heard Museum Educational Services Manager Gina Laczko said. El Día de Los Muertos is not scary. It's reflective, but not sad.

This cyclic view fused with Catholicism's All Souls Day on Nov. 2 and All Saints Day on Nov. 1 to become Day (or Days) of the Dead, Laczko explained. In a society without written family trees, celebrants tell stories to their children, "and it's not just the landmark things about your parents or great-grandparents," she added. "You remember a lot of anecdotal things, such as what was her favorite food, or that time he got me with that good practical joke."

Although many Americans see the prototypical dancing skeletons and celebration of death as macabre or related to Halloween, it's not, Laczko and others emphasize. As harvest festivals both fall at the same time of the year, but El Día de Los Muertos is not scary. It's reflective, but not sad.

What relates it to Halloween in many minds are images of cavorting skeletons. Laczko notes that these are a direct result of the work of Mexican press artist Jose Guadalupe Posada, who died in 1913. Posada inspired muralist Diego Rivera and others with his caricatures of the rich and political, all depicted as skeletons. Katarina, a skeletal figure in a plumed hat and dress, has become the instant visual signal of El Día de Los Muertos.

Katarina and company are in evidence all over Mexico as altars are set up Oct. 30 and 31. In homes, tables are covered with flowers, fruits, vegetables, candles, incense, statues of saints, photos of the deceased. The sky is represented by a sheet or strings of paper cutouts.

Traditionally, the flowers used are marigolds, and the incense used on the altar is copal, the resin from a particular tree. Like moles and chile-laced dishes prepared for some of the ancestors, the flowers are quite aromatic and the copal has a distinctive smell.

So what foods are made? "You would want to provide for (the spirits) the very best things they loved in life, the things made with the most love and the most care," Linda McAllister said. "You would make their favorite dish.

It is believed that the souls of children, los angelitos, return first on Oct. 30 and 31. Toys, not-so-spicy foods and candies would be provided on la ofrenda, or separate miniature altars might be made for them with small cups, saucers, and even miniature pan de muerto.

Families clean and repaint the graves in cemeteries, which are sometimes in churchyards, sometimes in the countryside. Musicians are often hired to play the favorite songs of the departed.

Women spend days working armloads of flowers into breathtakingly elaborate installations, she said. She was afraid she might offend people by taking photographs, so she asked a family for permission, and they were quite flattered. The family at the next gravesite said, "Don't you think ours are beautiful?"
"So there's tremendous pride," Laczko said. "Americans have no idea of how overwhelmingly beautiful this is. And to do all this work, it really is an honoring of that person."

So we'll have to learn from Johan his experiences of Dia de los Muertos while introducing him to our version of All Saints Day as well as Halloween.
-Carrie

The Home Study

Since August our focus has been on completing our home study. This is the first step in the process and requires all types of paperwork such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, autobiographies (yes, we had to write about ourselves and all of our family members!), letters of references from friends and work, etc. (I have to say you get a mighty big head when you read what people write about you in a letter of reference.) It also requires a fire and safety inspection of the home and meetings with the social worker to ensure we're not off our rockers. (Contrary to popular belief).

Right now we're waiting on Tom's fingerprint clearance to come back and for the social worker to finish doing our study. Once all of the ducks are in the row about 80 different people review the home study to ensure it meets Ohio's requirements as well as the Fed and the Colombian Gov't. Okay - not quite 80 - but it sure seems like it.

The fun news is we received a letter from Johan last week! It was a thank you note that we're guessing he did when he first got back to Colombia while he was still with the Kidsave group. It was a nice surprise.

Johan turned 11 in September. We were able to send him a small package to let him know we were thinking about him. We were advised not to send anything too large since items often go missing in customs - so we kept it to one of those musical cards and some stickers.

We're pretty sure he doesn't know about the adoption yet. I imagine they won't tell him until the time gets closer - just in case something would happen. We do know that he still wants to find a forever family and he had a great time when he was with us this summer.

Another bit of exciting news is that a couple in Dayton - about 20 minutes from here - have decided to adopt Diana & Mauricio - two other Kidsave children that were hosted in the Columbus area this summer. It's been nice sharing the experience of the adoption process with someone else who is going through it at the same time and it will be great for the kids when we get them all home.

One of my biggest worries is how to best help Johan fit into American life but also help him to retain his Colombian heritage. Having other Colombian children nearby will help.

Speaking of which I attended a seminar on Diversity in Adoption last week. It was a panel of 4 couples who had adopted children of another race, multiracial or special needs children. It was interesting listening to everyone's stories and about how they handle different situations that arise due to their interracial family. The subjects that came up are many that I have wondered about - or have been pushed to think about from the Social Worker and adoption agency. It was great to hear the positive outcomes and reinforced the idea that while everyone's situation is different there are many parallels - and the challenges are just hurdles to overcome - definitely not insurmountable.

Carrie

Our Story

Kidsave calls their summer hosting program 'Summer Miracles' for a good reason. The opportunity it gives for the orphaned children to find their forever homes and the joy it brings the host families is truly a summer miracle. Our story is about the deep love for our girls, Alex and Taylor as well as the rest of our family and about the abundant life we live that we wanted to open to others. It's about opening our hearts and our minds to different cultures and people and reaching out to others. This desire lead us to Kidsave (http://www.kidsave.org/) who lead us to Johan.

Johan is from Colombia and wishes to find a forever family. You can find the blog on our summer adventures with Johan at http://johankidsave.blogspot.com/. After hosting him this summer we searched our souls and decided we are his forever family. On August 27, 2008 we submitted a letter to the Colombian government expressing our intent to adopt Johan as our son.

This blog starts where the other left off - with Johan back in Colombia and us pushing to complete the adoption as soon as possible (for anyone who has gone through the adoption process or knows someone who has knows that the words 'adoption' and 'quickly' just don't go together).

I plan to journal here about the process itself for those interested. I hope also to share the excitment leading up to travel time and the stories about the travel experience itself. We will have to go to Colombia sometime in the Spring of 2009 to get Johan and finish the adoption. We will be required to stay in Colombia for anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 or more weeks.

Carrie