3rd -4th Grade Activity Title: Sugar skulls (Hispanic heritage month). Dia de los muertos.
Objectives: Students will learn about the hispanic holiday and tradition. They will create a sugar skull.
Learner Outcomes (align with State Goals): 26.B.2d, 26.A.2e, 27B.2
Time to Complete: 2+ classes
Materials: paper/construction paper, markers, crayons, eraser, pastels, and pencil.
Introduction/Motivation: Talk about Hispanic heritage month. Talk about traditions. Show examples.
Instructional Procedure:
1. Talk about Hispanic heritage month. Talk about Dia de los muertos. Talk about traditions/culture.
2. Pass out various color of construction paper (bright colors).
3. Pass out pencils/erasers. Draw a skull with students on step at a time.
4. Show students examples of sugar skulls.
5. Once the basic skull is drawn, students will embellish their skull to resemble those used in Mexico.
6. Discuss the use of bright colors.
7. If finishing early, students will decorate the rest of their paper.
National Hispanic Heritage Month Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month
from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American
citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was
expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15 and
ending on October 15. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988, on the approval of Public Law
100-402.
The day of September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin
American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition,
Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively.
Also, Columbus Day or Día de la Raza, which is October 12, falls within this 30 day period.
Day of the Dead- Dia de los muertos (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated
throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of
family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is
particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it is a national holiday, and all banks are closed. The
celebration takes place on November 1 and 2. Traditions connected with the holiday include building
private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and
beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. They also leave possessions of the
deceased.
Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back
hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. The holiday has
spread throughout the world: In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many Brazilians celebrate
by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain, there are festivals and parades. Similar observances occur
elsewhere in Europe, and similarly themed celebrations appear in many Asian and African cultures.
HOW DID SUGAR SKULLS ORIGINATE?
The origin of Mexican sugar skulls is tied to the history of sugar in Mexico.
Sugar was first introduced to the Americas before "Mexico" even existed as a country. After the Spanish
colonizers arrived in 1521, they quickly discovered that the conditions in the "New World" were perfect
for growing sugar on a mass scale. So beginning in the early 16th century, they set up large sugar
plantations and imported African slaves (millions over the course of nearly 4 centuries) to perform all the
hard labor required to grow sugar.
It's a sad start to the history of sugar skulls, but when considering the origin of Mexican sugar skulls, it's
important to note that sugar is not actually native to Mexico at all.
The making of sugar figures is actually a European tradition as well, and can be traced back to Palermo,
Italy, where figurines were made out of sugar as decorations. The Mexicans started making sugar skulls
as part of their Dia de los Muertos festivities, dating at least as far back as the mid-18th century; some say
the 17th century. By the mid-19th century, it was common for skulls to bear the name of the recipient
across the forehead.
Mexicans didn't have much money, but they did have a lot of sugar! This is probably why sugar skulls
became so popular over the centuries.
As the years roll on, sugar skull designs have become ever more colorful, creative, and extravagant.
Although skilled artisans compete for prizes in the annual Feria del Alfeñique, many sugar skulls are now
mass-produced, causing some to worry that the making of sugar skulls is a dying art form.
However, with the help of the Internet, people around the world are now learning how to make sugar
skulls. It is a fun activity for students and teachers, creating a wonderful opportunity for students to learn
about Mexican culture and beliefs. As long as there is continued public interest in Mexico's colorful sugar
skulls, there are sure to be artisans creating these beautiful skulls.
Day of the Dead- Dia de los muertos(Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday
celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on
gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who
have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it is a national holiday, and all banks are
closed. The celebration takes place on November 1 and 2. Traditions connected with the
holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and
the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. They
also leave possessions of the deceased.
Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating
back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddessMictecacihuatl. The
holiday has spread throughout the world: In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many
Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. InSpain, there are festivals and
parades, and, at the end of the day, people gather at cemeteries and pray for their dead loved
ones. Similar observances occur elsewhere in Europe, and similarly themed
celebrations appear in many Asian and African cultures.
STEP 1.
I always try to use some guide lines, a circle and some straight horizontal and vertical
lines, it helps me structure the skull. You need more guide lines, draw them.
STEP 2.
Two circles for the eyes, usually it would some kind of parallelogram but I will try circle
to be able to put more decorations. An upside down heart for the nose is not too hard to
draw. Then comes the tricky parts, I know the teeth should be between the middle of
each eye so I imagined two straight lines and drew the top part. The cheek bones too
are tricky but with the guide lines it's easier than taking a guess. Then I drew the jaw
and completed it with the head shape.
STEP 3.
10 teeth on the top part; 5teeth on the left and the right. 10 teeth on the bottom; 5teeth
on the left and the right. I try to make the teeth in the middle bigger than the teeth on
each side, just to give the illusion of the teeth being further back and smaller. Then I
filled the rest black and redefined the whole skull.
STEP 4.
Let's start decorating this skull with some petals around the eyes. Sketching bigger
circles around the eyes to draw nice curves could help.
STEP 5.
Now it's getting harder, I started by drawing two curves on each side of the nose,
following the the nose without making the lines touch each other. Then I attached a swirl
to each curved lines going on the opposite direction. Then I drew a swirl in each cheek
bones following the outline and leaving a gap. I drew a curved line under each eye and
completed it with some dots, drops, circles and two weird shaped triangles. Always
making sure to leave gaps between everything.
STEP 6.
For no particular reason I drew a third eye between the eyes. Then as usual I followed
the curves of the third eye and split the line in two to make two hooks close to the nose.
Then I drew some circles to give it more decorations.
STEP 7.
For fun I gave the skull some eyebrows and then I drew a swirl on each side. I have to
admit that if I wasn't drawing it in photoshop with my wacom tablet I would have folded a
paper in two, drew half the skull, drew all the decorations on one side and then traced
the other half two make the whole drawing more symmetrical.
STEP 8.
I like pentagrams, so I drew one pentagram in the right eye, pointing up for positive
meaning in the right eye, maybe for righteousness. And the inverted pentagram,
pointing down in the left eye. Having good and bad in the same drawing. Maybe one
side could be light and the other side could dark when it will be time to color it.
STEP 9.
3 Half circle on the top of the head. 2 short and big swirls on each side followed by
longer and smaller swirls going on the opposite side. I put 2 curved lines giving the
illusion the there are more decoration on the skull going to the back of the head. Then I
drew some horizontal drops and diagonal drops going on the opposite side. To
complete the forehead I put some more drops, circles, and swirls where I had space.
Then I drew the weird pentagonal shape in the forehead, I had no clue what to put there
so I followed with curvy lines and that's what it did.
STEP 10.
For the the jaw I started by drawing the big swirls in the chin and finished them with a
smaller swirl behind the teeth, on the bone. Behind the smaller swirls I draw 2 curved
lines and 3circles in between. Then I drew the 3 curved scratches, giving the illusion
they continue in the back of the jaw. Since I had space left, I drew circles and lines
behind the big swirls and that's it. All is left to do is to color it, something I might do later
and put it in my artworks. I'm pretty sure that by drawing big decorations first and then
completing it with smaller ones, you could easily draw sugar skulls completely different
and still be pretty cool to look at.