Dia De Los Muertos

English Reflection

The person that passed away is my grandfather. His name was Louis Wyche Sr. He was born in August of the late 1930s, and lived until October of 2015. I loved my grandfather very much. He meant a lot to me and my family. At family reunions and events everyone loved seeing him and speaking with him, he was a really cool guy. He came to Philadelphia when he was 19, leaving his wife (my grandmother, I’m not sure of they were married at the time) and his newborn baby Louis Wyche Jr, which is my uncle. He left his hometown in Tallahassee to come to Philadelphia to find work and a home for his family, which he did quickly. He found a job at  an industrial factory, and he ended up working there for over 30 years I believe. He found a home in the Germantown area of Philadelphia, on Crowson Street.  He lived at that home until his death. It was known by some as the ‘Wyche’ Home, and my grandfather was the head of the home, and was often referred to as ‘Mr. Wyche’.

My grandfather meant so much to our family and to me. His death was so devastating, everyone in the family shed tears and were beside themselves after hearing the news. I was at home when I found out, others were at the hospital. His death was extremely hard on my grandmother, he meant the world to her. They were together for over 50 years, and had 6 Children together. She lost so much when he passed away. For me, I lost a lot also. I loved my grandfather, his death hurt very much. I always would have fun talking and hanging out with him. He was a very funny man and we had a lot of fun together. He was someone that always enjoyed life even when he was sick for a while, and that made me want enjoy my life even when things were going bad. Even though i stopped seeing him as much as I got older, it was still awesome to talk with him and see him when I could. My grandfather was one of my favorite people in the world, when he died I lost that.

For my sugar skull and mask I decided to incorporate my grandad’s life into it fully. On the mask I had yellow teeth. My grandfather didn’t have real teeth when he died, and didn’t for many years, but when he did he had yellow teeth. Also, I had a lot of green and red on the mask. This is very important to my grandfather's life for many reasons. One is being his love of the holiday Christmas. He loved Christmas and getting and giving presents, and the Christmas colors are green and red, that is one reason that I added red and green. Another reason is his love of the Philadelphia Eagles and Philadelphia Phillies. The Eagles colors are Green and White and the Phillies colors are Red and Blue. He loved both of those sports teams very much, and before he lost his vision he would watch them all the time and enjoy it a lot. I am a fan of both of those teams also, and I sometimes watched the games with him. The team colors are why I have red and green on the mask. The skull has red and a dark blue or purple. The red is added to the skull as well because red was one of his favorite colors. The blue or purple is for the flag of his original hometown of Tallahassee. I could not find the exact color for the flag, so I used the closest color I could find. I added that to represent a big part of who he was, and a big part of him is his hometown. Even though he lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Tallahassee is where he met the love of his life, my grandmother, and I added that to represent it.  The way the skull and mask reflects my grandfather is that everything added was important in his life. The red, green, yellow, and blue/purple  for his favorite holidays, team's, colors, teeth, and hometown. All of these reflect who he was as a person and what he loved when he was living.

“Día de los Muertos” has opened my mind about celebrating deceased loved ones a ton. Before I did not think about celebrating in any other ways than a funeral. This project made me realize that my family does actually celebrate our deceased family members, and I think it’s great. After doing this, recording the eulogy, making the mask and skulls, I want celebrate my deceased family members even me.

Spanish Eulogy:

Yo soy Makyle Wyche. El hijo de Michael, y el nieto de Louis Wyche Sr. Yo soy uno de los muchos nietos de Louis. Mi abuelo fue de Tallahassee, Florida. Él llegó a Philadelphia en la edad 19. Él llegó a encontró trabajar y un hogar. El rápidamente encontró un hogar. Él vivió en ella con la familia hasta su muerte. Mi abuelo el amor deportes. Sus favoritos fueron béisbol y fútbol americano. Mi abuelo fue no alto. El fue gordo y gracioso. Yo Vivo cerca de su casa. Yo visito a veces. Su muerte me hecho triste. Yo extraño el muchísimo. Mi abuelo fue un gran hombre. Yo encanta mi abuelo muchísimo. Que en paz descanse.