Honrando el pasado con un proverbio (Honoring the Past with a Proverb)
Día de los muertos (Day of the Dead), celebrated on November 1st and 2nd, is a Latin American holiday for the purpose of celebrating those who have passed on. It is generally associated not with sorrow, but with bright, festive colors, laughter, dancing, and music: not a memorial of loved ones' deaths, but a beautiful celebration of their lives. As Dr. Seuss once said, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
The 'honrando el pasado con un proverbio' project was based around el día de los muertos, culminating in an exhibition on November 3rd. This was a joint Spanish-Art project. Because HTHNC is very egalitarian, we did not want to give the project the religious connotation that it traditionally has, so instead of honoring loved ones, we took a look at ourselves when we were younger and as we're going forward, and made art pieces and writing pieces based on that. In Spanish class, we each found a Spanish proverb that resonated with us in some way. I couldn't find anything that really resonated with me, but I was hilariously busy with school and extracurriculars at the time of the project, so I decided to translate a quote that I had heard before (paraphrased, since I didn't remember the precise wording): "When there isn't enough time, prioritize ruthlessly" became "Cuando no hay tiempo suficiente, priorice sin clemencia." Each of us then wrote a short essay in Spanish about our proverbs, answering such questions as "¿Qué significa tu proverbio (What does your proverb mean)?" and "¿Qué paso cuando aprendí la lección (What happened to teach you the lesson)?" Please click here to view my essay in Spanish and English.
Meanwhile, in Art, we looked at the artistic aspect of el día de los muertos – specifically, face painting. We painted portraits of ourselves with día de los muertos decor, ideally depicting our thoughts about our lives in the past and going into the future, by taking photographs, editing them in Photoshop, and tracing them onto canvases. I used bright colors on my chin and forehead to signify general happiness and contentment, as I have been generally happy throughout my life. I tried to draw myself looking ahead into the future with mostly confidence and a little stress, the latter of which I tried to symbolize with the deep blue streaks under my eyes. My art piece is shown above.
The 'honrando el pasado con un proverbio' project was based around el día de los muertos, culminating in an exhibition on November 3rd. This was a joint Spanish-Art project. Because HTHNC is very egalitarian, we did not want to give the project the religious connotation that it traditionally has, so instead of honoring loved ones, we took a look at ourselves when we were younger and as we're going forward, and made art pieces and writing pieces based on that. In Spanish class, we each found a Spanish proverb that resonated with us in some way. I couldn't find anything that really resonated with me, but I was hilariously busy with school and extracurriculars at the time of the project, so I decided to translate a quote that I had heard before (paraphrased, since I didn't remember the precise wording): "When there isn't enough time, prioritize ruthlessly" became "Cuando no hay tiempo suficiente, priorice sin clemencia." Each of us then wrote a short essay in Spanish about our proverbs, answering such questions as "¿Qué significa tu proverbio (What does your proverb mean)?" and "¿Qué paso cuando aprendí la lección (What happened to teach you the lesson)?" Please click here to view my essay in Spanish and English.
Meanwhile, in Art, we looked at the artistic aspect of el día de los muertos – specifically, face painting. We painted portraits of ourselves with día de los muertos decor, ideally depicting our thoughts about our lives in the past and going into the future, by taking photographs, editing them in Photoshop, and tracing them onto canvases. I used bright colors on my chin and forehead to signify general happiness and contentment, as I have been generally happy throughout my life. I tried to draw myself looking ahead into the future with mostly confidence and a little stress, the latter of which I tried to symbolize with the deep blue streaks under my eyes. My art piece is shown above.