Day of the Dead Altar With a Sugar Skull and Marigolds Coloring Page

This is an ofrenda, the altar families build at home for Dia de los Muertos. A framed sugar skull stands at the back, a tall candle burns on a turned stand at each side, and marigolds spill across both levels in loose heaps. The cloth over the front edge falls in soft folds and is left completely plain, so you can put a pattern on it or leave it white. Marigolds are the flower of the holiday. Families lay petal paths from the door to the altar because the scent is said to guide the dead home, and that is why this page is covered in them. There are more than twenty blooms here, each one a ring of rounded petals around an open center, which makes this the longest sitting in the collection. Work the flowers in two or three oranges and yellows rather than one, and vary which bloom gets which, so the heap looks gathered rather than printed. Leave the candle flames and the framed skull until last. Bright accents land better once everything around them is already down.