The white, smooth skulls made of sugar may have looked creepy when presenter Amaranta Ibarra-Sands handed them out to youngsters at Snoqualmie Library, but by the time the youthful crowd got through with them, the sugar skulls looked downright festive.

Imagination trumped the macabre Monday, Oct. 15, during Ibarra-Sands’ artistic presentation, “Playing with Sugar Skulls.” She relayed the history and symbolism behind the skulls, or “calavera de azucar” in Spanish.

The skulls are a type of folk art and part of a festival popular in Mexico, Guatemala and other Latin American countries called Dia de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead,” which takes place on All Saint’s Day, Nov. 1, and All Soul’s Day, Nov. 2.

“How many of you know what Dia de los Muertes is?” asked Ibarra-Sands. “Some people think it’s Halloween, but it’s not. They might think it’s kind of scary, but it’s not.”

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