Day of the Dead and First Quarter Moon of November

Dia de los Muertos - the Day of the Dead - is a holiday observed in Mexico on November 2. It’s a family time for remembering and honoring dead friends and relatives - a period when the souls of the dead can return for a visit. It’s celebrated with humor, not sadness.

And this is the First Quarter Moon; we are one-quarter of the way through the moon cycle. The moon is waxing - getting larger - until it's full again. Now is the time to remain flexible, use my obstacles as fuel for growth, and show full effort for priorities.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal queries

2. Make a full effort plan

3. Write a mission haiku

4. Set up an ofrenda
5. Make paper banners
6. Make skeletons
7. Make sugar skulls

1. Journal queries:

Today, at the first quarter moon, I prepare to give full effort to my priorities; I remember that for each opportunity in life there is a challenge. 

My theme this month is abundance, and the challenge to abundance is limitation; if I feel restricted, I will find it hard to accept the blessings that present themselves. The main limitations I feel are time and energy - so it's easy to say, "I don't have the time or energy to take on anything new."

The practice for meeting this challenge is to open doors and step through.

Which of my priorities am I having the most trouble acting on this month? 

 

Which challenges do I face this week and month (things I don’t enjoy, don’t know how to do, or feel blocked on) and how can I best meet them?

What do I need (tools, information, allies) in order to best practice the habits of abundance and gratitude?

2. Make a full effort plan: 

Full effort (sometimes called exertion) is one of the steps of mental discipline on Buddha’s eightfold path. Buddha was urging full effort for awakening the mind; a first step is to practice full effort for whatever is most important in your life right now - for your priorities.

Today I made a full effort plan for opening myself to family harmony, communication, and an abundance of family time together. I'm feeling the restrictions of the pandemic still, as my family remains vigilant, but I think I've been setting myself up for conflict and frustration that is mostly in my head. Remember that limitation is the challenge to abundance, so I need to practice opening the doors to abundant harmony!

My plan:

• Get a pop-up tent, and create a cozy outdoor space for family gatherings (I need back walls, more chairs, more blankets, and convenient storage space).
• Create a better permanent fire pit spot, with benches.
• Pray and write about what I want for Thanksgiving, and share it with my family.

3: Write a Mission Haiku:

My missions are my various big projects or directions in life. Today I'm thinking again about my mission to "create an abundance of opportunities for family connection, and completely open myself to the win-win solutions for family harmony, because my family is my wellspring for love".

 

Today I'll write this mission / intention as a haiku, because a poem has a unique ability of getting to the core of a Truth, and I'm always surprised by what surfaces. Here's the steps I use:

1. Write a brief, evocative sentence or two describing this top mission in my life, and the significant issues that surround it:

The issue is my need for fairness: I get stubborn and frustrated and make things worse, even though I know in my heart that defending my idea of fairness is what causes us pain, and my role is to cooperate and create space for peace. (But, I also need to not compromise my integrity...)

2. List the most exciting or pleasing verbs that describe what I want to do with this mission:

open my heart, accept, love, create space, surrender

3. Next, list some core values that prompt this mission:

Peace and equanimity, love, integrity, community and unity

4. Turn these sentences, verbs, and values into a haiku (5, 7, and 5 syllables) or a Cinquain (2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 syllables), or in this case a short mantra, that gets to the core of my mission, and gives me a framework for my actions.

Open my heart-door

Love is the wind of blessings

Surrender to Love

4. Set up an ofrenda:

Families begin to prepare for the Days of the Dead in mid-October. The heart of the festival is the ofrenda, a special table with offerings and decorations; I set up my ofrenda 2-weeks ago. The ofrenda is decorated with arches, candles, incense, skeleton toys, and marigolds. The family also displays some of the dead person’s favorite foods and things, photographs, sugar skulls, and little gifts.

5. Make paper banners:

The ofrenda needs delicate cut-paper banners on the front edge, on the wall behind, and on the ceiling overhead. Mexican artists cut through about 30 pieces of tissue paper at once. They pin the sheets to the table, draw the design on the top sheet and then cut with special stamping tools.

We have an easier method.

Supplies: Tissue paper, posterboard patterns, pen, scissors, string, glue.

1- I made some patterns on posterboard for simple banners that we use every year. 

We cut a piece of tissue to just a little bigger than the pattern, leaving a few extra inches on the top edge to fold over.


2. Next we trace the pattern onto the tissue.









3. And cut it out.







4. Then layer the cut piece over a plain piece and fold down the edge.


5. Then glue the two layers together, with a piece of string under the flap for hanging. And that's it!

6. Make skeletons:

Almost every year we make new skeleton sculptures to put on the ofrenda. It's tricky, but so much fun!

These were made with white fimo over wire, hot-glued to a wooden base, and painted with black details. 

The fun part is adding the clothing and details that explain what the skeleton is doing.

7. Make sugar skulls:

Candy makers in Mexico sell thousands of sugar skulls before the Days of the Dead. They form the skulls by pressing white sugar paste into a mold, then they pipe pastel icing onto the candy, and decorate the eyes and mouth with bits of shiny paper or foil. Sometimes they write a name on the forehead.

We make our skulls from almond paste, lime juice, and powdered sugar, decorated with frosting and metallic origami paper.

Ingredients:

• 8-oz can of almond paste
• juice of one lime
• 6 c. of powdered sugar
• Colored icing in tubes
• foil paper

Makes 4-5 skulls-

1- Mix together almond paste, lime juice, and most of the powdered sugar in a bowl. Knead together with your hands. Keep adding sugar until the candy is very stiff.


2- Knead the candy again on wax paper, and divide it into 4-5 pieces. Chill.

3- Shape into a skull, add bits of foil paper for eyes, and pipe on frosting decorations.