Marigolds + Tissue Paper Flowers: Día de los Muertos Craft

The largest indigenous group in Mexico, the Nahua people, who speak Náhuatl, call them cempazúchitl (sehm-pah-zu-cheel). The bright yellow or orange flower represents the sun and it is said the flowers guide the souls of the dead. Their fragrant smell and bright color are considered helpful in guiding the deceased back to the living world. These flowers are placed on gravestones, tucked into dancers’ hair, and petals lead the way to various altars & ofrendas.

You can buy marigolds from local Santa Cruz County Farms, farmer's markets, and some grocery stores. If your local market is sold out of marigolds, you can also decorate and recreate their beauty with some tissue paper flowers. Follow the tutorial below using orange and yellow tissue paper to have them look like real marigolds. Or get creative and play with color in a great Día de los Muertos community craft.

• The first thing I always do is a bit of inspirational research. Check out our Pinterest board for some awesome ideas.
• Grab your materials: Tissue Paper, Scissors & Pipe Cleaners.
• Cut your tissue paper into squares. We recommend squares bigger than 4x4 inches.
• Make a stack of about 5-6 tissue paper squares.
• Accordion fold the stack of squares using a table or a hard surface.
• Wrap a pipe cleaner around once or twice down the center and twist it closed.
• Carefully, separate the layers of tissue paper pulling them towards the center.
• Pull each layer up and fluff it to make it into a beautifully shaped marigold.