Looking Ahead to Día de los Muertos: The Remembering Day

Pat Mora

The Remembering Day/El dia de los muertos by Pat MoraIn the bilingual picture book The Remembering Day/El día de los muertos, Pat created an origin myth in which she imagined how the Mexican custom of remembering deceased loved ones came to be. Day of the Dead (El día de los muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico, in particular the Central and South regions, and by people of Mexican heritage elsewhere.

Hopefully homes, libraries and schools can use this book to introduce this custom to children and suggest creating an opportunity for sharing memories.You can find ideas here.

An Author’s Note from Pat: Celebrating Lives
Many cultures have traditions for honoring their dead. A beautiful tradition, the Día de los Muertos, The Day of the Dead, is a time for remembering and honoring loved ones. A blending of indigenous and Catholic elements, this Mexican tradition is often misunderstood.

Since the world is our home, and we are affected by weather and what grows around us, cultures and religions link observances to the seasons. The Día de los Muertos occurs on November 2, in the mulling season of autumn.

What becomes popular is often what can be commercialized: skulls and marigolds, ways to lure customers. Actually, “luring” is a deep part of the tradition, since some believe that departed spirits are lured back, often by their favorite foods and objects.

I view this tradition as a celebration of those no longer with us. At schools, libraries, museums and homes, children, families and visitors can create and enjoy displays that include pictures, cherished objects, possibly favorite foods of those being honored. We can also create our own remembering traditions.

In this book, I imagined how this custom of creating a remembering day might have started in the distant part, in a rural village; when indigenous languages, and not Spanish or English, were spoken on this hemisphere; before large cities or churches existed in the Americas. Many families find this tradition a helpful way to annually celebrate the lives of cherished family members and friends and find comfort in remembering the

Congratulations to the 2018 Mora Award winners!

Pat Mora

Johnson City Library, in Johnson City, Texas, has received the 2018 Estela and Raúl Mora Award, an honor given by Pat and her sister, Stella Mora Henry, in partnership with First Book. The award recognizes literacy activities during the month of April in celebration of Children’s Day, Book Day; also known as El día de los niños, El día de los libros; or Día. Johnson City Library will receive a $1,000 credit for brand new books from the First Book Marketplace, as well as a Mora Award plaque to be displayed in their school.

Johnson City Library hosted dual celebrations, one for young children, families, and the local Head Start program; and another for the general public and the library’s own after school science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) program. A total of 90 people attended the events, which included dancing, singing, reading, and food.

Johnson City event 2018

There were also two Mora Award honor winners that will receive $500 in credit to the First Book Marketplace: Watsonville Public Library in Watson, California, and Communities In Schools of Marietta/Cobb County Parents as Teachers program in Marietta, Georgia.

Read First Book’s press release.

Young Pat and family

Pat’s parents, Estela and Raúl Mora, her sister Cissy and Pat

Welcoming Pat’s Seventh Adult Poetry Collection

Pat Mora

Encantado: Desert Monologues by Pat MoraToday is the publication day for Encantado: Desert Monologues, Pat’s seventh adult poetry collection. Pat writes:

Ten years ago, I returned to Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. I became intrigued by writing short monologues with the hope of, perhaps, seeing the poems performed. I was also pondering the issues raised by Thornton Wilder in Our Town and the whole notion of “our town,” the public and private lives we live.

Life is complex. People often hide their deepest fears and feelings. My hope is that readers who like voices—hearing others—and who share my interest in others, their emotional journeys, like and unlike us, will find the time spent reading these poems and pondering them, well spent. I listened intently and then hoped to share what I heard from an assortment of people whose stories or lives snagged my interest.

In our celebrity culture, millions are spent to be seen, to be heard, to be interviewed, to be quoted. For the last ten years, I’ve been interested in the unsung voices of the people around us, those who won’t be on morning shows. I created a small city in the Southwest, Encantado, bordered by a river. A number of the speakers are in the habit of confiding in the river. All the speakers, living or spirits, address us directly.
Pat