We are excited to share this guest blog by Alice Mendoza, who was a driving force behind BIMA’s now annual Día de los Muertos celebrations! 

It was 1992. I had just joined the Wilkes Elementary 3rd grade teaching team, where the Social Studies focus was on Pacific Rim countries. 

I was thrilled to discover that very little curriculum was available, leaving it up to me to create my own, based on the District standards/framework provided. 

I had moved to Bainbridge Island with my then 6th and 9th grade sons in 1990, after having taught for 6 years at UCLA’S Laboratory Elementary School (UES), where hands-on, integrated learning was the bedrock of our philosophy. I welcomed the opportunity to create meaningful learning opportunities for my students that would also open their eyes to the bigger world around them.

As a member of the BISD Multicultural Lead Teachers Committee, I sought ways to introduce my students to other cultures, so this was very exciting for me!

During our annual Fall parent conferences, Mario’s mother, Magali Duarte, who also happened to be my son Tom’s 9th grade Spanish teacher, offered to lend me a video that she showed her students each year about an authentic Día de los Muertos (DDLM) celebration in Oaxaca. I was in the process of creating a study of Mexico, so I was intrigued. 

However, her students were 9th graders, mine were 8/9 year olds. Would they be engaged?

The time had come. I had told my students very little about Día de los Muertos, only that we would be traveling to a rural village in Oaxaca to learn about a very important cultural celebration.

The video started.

25 minutes later it concluded. No one said a word. 

A hand went up.

“Yes, Adam?” I asked.

“Ms. Mendoza, I think we should have our own DDLM celebration,” he responded.

(I get goose bumps typing this)

What?!

The classroom erupted with enthusiastic support.

Not only that, they also insisted on watching it again, so they could take notes on what they would need for our ceremony!

This had not been in my lesson plan, which was perfect–they were learning by doing!

So every year, until I retired in 2014, I showed my 3rd graders this historic video and every year they recommitted to carrying on the tradition.

Cynthia Sears, the founder of BIMA, became and remains one of my dearest friends after showing up in the Wilkes Elementary hallway to congratulate me for being chosen as one of two Island Treasures that year (2007). She often attended our classroom DDLM celebrations.

When I retired in 2014, the year BIMA opened, Cynthia took me out to lunch and asked me to bring the DDLM celebration she had experienced over the years in my 3rd grade classroom to the museum for the wider community to experience.

What?!

I looked into her eyes and told her, “Yes! Let’s make this happen!” 

But I had a brainstorm as Araceli Cruz immediately came to mind. I had had her daughter, Trinity, in my 3rd grade class at Ordway Elementary, just a year before. Araceli, being of Mexican American ancestry and a brilliantly talented artist, basically lived in my classroom during our annual preparation for DDLM. She enriched our study in such a natural and authentic way that she just had to be on my team to bring DDLM to our greater community.

So there we were. Cynthia, Araceli, and I, embarking on this wonderful journey to enable our community to experience the cycle of life through another cultural lens, welcoming the spirit of loved ones home for a visit, on the wings of butterflies. 

Notes:

Magali Duarte who lent me the film that started it all has been our fabulous Catrina (the elegant skeleton figure that is a symbol of DDLM) during BIMA’s DDLM processional since the beginning of the celebrations.

Adam Folley, the student who raised his hand in third grade, was our realtor last year when we sold our Bainbridge home and moved to Poulsbo.

My son, Tom Neal, teaches Spanish at Hyla High School, encouraging his students’ involvement in BIMA’s DDLM each year.