Dia de los Muertos comes to St John's Court for Halloween
A Mexican-inspired festival of colour, music, craft, and worship has been held in St John’s Court Nursing Court in Bromsgrove.
The nursing home hosted a day packed full of activities and delicacies for their residents. The event took place in the main lounge of the Victorian building, which was completely transformed for the day.
The display included a traditional Day of the Dead Altar. The structure included many pieces of artwork, all homemade by the residents. A Taco truck with a built-in working kitchen was also built and painted from scratch by the maintenance and activities teams. Finally, the room was adorned with ‘papel picado’, which are intricately cut paper garlands and are believed to symbolise the fragility of life.
In the few weeks before the festival, residents spent time creating and crafting their sugar skull masks with bright colours and ornamentations, and pinatas which were the biggest hit of the day.
On the day, residents were treated to a freshly prepared Mexican feast and activities including their yearly ‘Monster Mash’ games and of course the competition for the best sugar skull mask which was won by Christine.
Ben Line, Activities Lead at St John’s Court, said: “I would like to thank all of the team that supported us in making this a very special day for our residents. A fantastic day was had by all who attended our Mexican day of the dead celebration this Halloween.
The residents indulged themselves with South American cocktails, and of course, ordered whatever they liked from our amazing taco truck.”
The Altar or Offrenda will be on display at St John’s Court until 9th November and members of the community are welcome to come to visit the home. Please call the home beforehand to arrange a convenient time.
