Mexican Day of the Dead altar video competition for schools
Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) has Catholic and Aztec roots. Mexicans around the world celebrate it on 1st and 2nd November each year. The beautiful rituals honour the lives of departed ancestors with happiness and love. Families remember their dead, place altars in their homes, decorate tombs and attend huge street events.
The Mexican Day of the Dead Altar Video Competition has been running since 2022. It is a collaboration between the Mexican Embassy in the UK and Languages, Cultures and Linguistics (LCL) at the University of Southampton. It emerged from Dr Lavery's research on why Day of the Dead is misunderstood and The Reception of Dia de Muertos.
As well as the video competition, engaging enrichment activities are available for schools. Pupils learn about this fascinating cultural festival through creative hands-on activities. The activities celebrate cultural differences and inclusiveness. They also highlight that the Día de Muertos is not a ‘Mexican Halloween.’
The initiative aims to enrich the school curriculum and help teachers by providing CPD and teaching materials.
Secondary schools across England are welcomed to participate. Activities include cooking, altar building, singing, writing poetry, costume making and face-painting. They harness the children's creative energy and are relevant to subjects across the curriculum.
Around 8,000 children and teachers across the UK have taken part so far.
You and your students can watch Jane Lavery's lecture on the Day of the Dead on YouTube. In this lecture, she explores cultural appropriation and how the Day of the Dead is different from Halloween. She also talks about arts and crafts activities for pupils, and competition guidelines. Please be aware that this material is copyrighted and you will need to aknowledge this as Jane Lavery's CPD material. Access the lecture here.
In her lecture, Jane talks about the significance of monarch butterflies in the Day of the Dead traditions, and you can learn more about this in the video Mariposa Monarca el Día de Muertos en Michoacán.
Jane's article for The Conversation expands on the significance of the Day of the Dead for Mexican communities in the UK and includes footage of recent festivities in Bournemouth. In this article, you can also see some examples of the 'Halloweenisation' of Day of the Dead imagery from across film and television, which she refers to in her lecture. Access Jane's article here.
National Schools Día de Muertos Altar Video Awards Ceremony
In 2022, 2023 and 2024, we held a National Schools Día de Muertos Video Awards Ceremony. Mexican Ambassador to the UK, Josefa González-Blanco, and Jane Lavery hosted the awards.
The event was broadcast online and included screenings of the four winning videos. All participating pupils received a digital certificate of achievement. This was signed by LCL and the ambassador to the UK.
The top four winners received a hamper and personalised trophy. These came courtesy of the Embassy and LCL. The ambassador also shared the event on the embassy's Twitter .
The Embassy and Lavery will continue to run the annual video competition. This initiative fosters collaboration with the embassy and promotes Mexican culture in the UK. It is part of a long-standing effort by the University of Southampton, LCL and the former MeXsu centre.
Video Competition Winners
2024 winners
- Godolphin, Salisbury, Wiltshire
- Tomlinscote school, Frimley, Surrey
- Reed’s school, Cobham, Surrey
- Honorary Prize. St. Anne’s Catholic School, Sixth Form College, Southampton, Hampshire
2023 winners
- King Edward VI, Southampton
- St. Anne’s Catholic School, Sixth Form College, Southampton, Hampshire
- Peter Symonds College, Winchester, Hampshire
- Castlemilk High School, Glasgow
2022 winners
- Highcliffe School Hampshire
- Peter Symonds College, Winchester
- Mulberry School for Girls, London
- West Buckland School, North Devon
See disclaimer for information about use of these videos.
Bournemouth Echo Covers Story of Highcliffe winners!
A Resounding Success: Testimonials
Feedback from hundreds of year 7 to 13 school children and their teachers was outstanding. We've shared some highlights from the testimonials below.
Many of the participating schools had ever run Day of the Dead activities. Teachers praised the initiative and told us the training materials enhanced their curriculum. The children said that it was a fun, productive, and motivational learning experience. They especially found it to be culturally enriching.
See disclaimer for information about use of these testimonials.
What did pupils think?
‘The activities definitely make learning more fun and enjoyable.’
‘It was fun making the altar’
‘We all did different things to add to making the video including some people brought food, or made decorations or made the video but we all sang the song in the video.’
‘It was a good activity because everyone was involved, we were still learning but it was fun’
‘I felt independent and enjoyed the celebration.’
‘It was a collaborative process.’
‘I did know some things about Day of the Dead, but I didn’t know about it in so much detail as I do now, for example I learnt that you put the person’s favourite food on their altar. This is the first time I have been part of a project like this.’
‘I found learning about the ritual very interesting, very insightful and inspirational and I am excited to continue to learn’
See more pupil feedback here: https://padlet.com/mllvideo/student
What did teachers think?
‘Following Dr Jane Lavery’s research-led initiative, our students designed the elements that they wanted to include for their video, under my guidance. This was the first time that the department had been involved in such a project. All Spanish classes from Years 7 through to 13 (700 pupils!) got involved in the project creating paper cempasúchil flowers, papel picado, calavera skulls, corazones de milagro, nichos and writing satirical calavera poems. Some of the materials were sourced from the Dorset Scrapstore in order to comply with the competition’s recycling requirements. The Year 11 students then put the altar together including pictures of the Queen, her favourite foods of chocolate and afternoon tea and other traditional elements.’
‘The students got involved from the beginning and gave 100% effort. All this video is theirs, not much teacher help a part from some encouragement to win!! They have put it together technologically speaking as well as constructing the altar, getting pictures, making crosses/flowers/skulls out of recycling materials, baking, cooking, singing, reciting a poem, painting faces and couple of students played the background music on the piano and guitar. As a teacher I have loved the challenge,’
‘It has been the first time and we have really enjoyed it. We will definitely do it again.’
See further feedback from teachers:
https://padlet.com/mllvideo/staff
Other feedback:
https://padlet.com/sotonmll/pretalk
https://padlet.com/sotonmll/posttalk
https://padlet.com/jelavery/dia-de-muertos-day-of-the-dead-year-7-simon-langton-v3cz0t7j6jufa4ws
Jane Lavery’s impact related research around the Day of the Dead and the schools engagement activity is part of a REF impact case study. The findings are for her publications.
The videos and testimonials shared on this page are part of Lavery's ideation and impact-led research project on Day of the Dead. They cannot be published, cited elsewhere or adapted for any purpose. Researchers must not use them in publications or share them in any way.
Access to the padlets with testimonials is restricted and password protected.
