In anticipation

I am exporting from up north (i.e., my former congregation) the wonderful papel picado banners (from Mexican Sugar Skull) and this year, in a new place, am adding in una ofrenda — an altar at which we remember the dead.


The ofrenda is far from finished and people are going to add to it, but I wanted to get things started because tomorrow I am also leading a retreat so won't have a lot of time (and tomorrow night we will have a food stand at the 50th annual Halloween parade downtown).

Tonight the family foyer met and everyone (except me because I had such a full day, including funeral and burial) got dressed up in Halloween garb. Hence, the odd clothing of the adults. After a great potluck, I commandeered the tall people to help me put up the papel picado in the chapel.


Looking to the back of the chapel — you can see organ pipes that go with a small organ we use in the winter. We had gotten the first strand up.


This gentleman's father-in-law had lived in Egypt for a while and had brought back this robe. I told him as he clambered up on the pew that now he would know how women feel with long dresses.


In the process of hanging up the last papel picado, a little person had crashed through it so our Egyptian friend and I spent some time taping the poor skeleton back together so he wouldn't flop. Now his panel is a bit puckered but it will survive the next four weeks.


The chapel is not yet ready for Sunday (I need to change the cloth to white) but it's well on the way.

I am delighted because a junior high student was thrilled to see the papel picado and asked, 'Are we going to have sugar skulls?' They've been studying el Día de los Muertos in her Spanish class. I told her I wanted to see how well this went over and that perhaps next year we could do the sugar skulls. So far, this set-up is a hit. I have told folks that I consider the chapel 'fair game' or my 'playground.' The young families like it. And that is very good.