Sugar Skulls and a New Tradition

This Summer I bought a pink, vintage coat from the thrift store...  

Somewhere between the heat of Summer and a couple of weeks ago, I decided that the coat would look stellar with a sugar skull pin, so I set to work on Sugar Skull Number One.

Sugar Skull Number One

Sugar Skull Number One was super fun to make and in the process I did a some research on the Day of the Dead.  Upon completion, my son requested that he also have a sugar skull, so I set to work on Sugar Skull Number Two.   

Sugar Skull Number Two

After completion of Sugar Skull Number Two, my daughter had to have one as well, and so Sugar Skull Number Three came into being.  

Sugar Skull Number Three

Both of my children attend Italian public schools.  November 1, All Saints Day is a national holiday here, and the children are out of school.  Having the children home from school for a holiday I know nothing about spurred a little more research into the origins of the Day of the Dead, All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and Samhain.  Though none of these holidays are traditions that I grew up with, I really like the premise of celebrating and remembering the dead, so I decided my family should have our own little celebration.  

My daughter and I made a little sugar skull cake....no making fun of our cake, she is 5 and we had a really fun time decorating the cake...yes, they are gummy bear eyes.   While we made the cake I talked to her about my grandmothers, her great-grandmothers.  I told her about what kind of women they were, what it was like when they were growing up, and how great their hugs were.

After dinner we put a candles on the cake for each person my husband and I knew who has passed from this world into the next.  It felt good to remember and talk about all of the people who we love, but are no longer with us.   They are not forgotten. 

We have a new family tradition in the making....and all because of a pink, vintage thrift store coat.