Make Calaveritas!

Tia Ivonne Pinto leads a Day of the Dead workshop at the Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library on Saturday, October 17, starting at 1 PM. The focus is on making calaveritas—the sugar skulls that give the tradition its name—and the session is designed to get you celebrating a little early this year.

It's not just a craft project, though. Pinto mixes the making with the learning: you'll hear about the custom itself and watch a short film about the creator of Skeleton-Art. Once you've finished your skull, you can place it on the library's ofrenda, the altar built for the holiday. If you've never made one before, it's a good way to get your hands on the tradition rather than just reading about it.

The venue has its own history to lean on. Originally the Germantown Branch Library, it was renamed in 2002 for Joseph E. Coleman, Philadelphia's first African-American City Council President, who served on Council for twenty years and held the presidency from 1980 to 1992. The building is a 1907 Carnegie library, and it still holds a life-size dragon sculpture by Stewart Paul and a mural by Richard Watson. It's a spot that's been part of the neighborhood for over a century.

Supplies are limited, so it's worth getting there early. The workshop is free and runs at 1 PM on Saturday, October 17, at the Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library, 68 West Chelten Avenue (at Greene St. and Chelten Ave.) in Philadelphia.