Originally published in Mexico in 1999 as El Festival
de las Calaveras by Alfaguara, an imprint of Grupo
Santillana. Copyright text © 1999, Luis San Vicente.
Copyright illustrations © 1999, Luis San Vicente.
Festival of the Bones / El Festival de las Calaveras.
Copyright of this edition © 2002, Cinco Puntos Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
consent from the publisher, except for brief quotations
for reviews. For further information, write Cinco
Puntos Press, 701 Texas Ave., El Paso, TX 79901;
or call 1-915-838-1625.
FIRST EDITION
HC: 10 9 8 7 6
PB: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover & book design by
Vicki Trego Hill of El Paso, Texas.
MANY THANKS to Marta Llorens of Alfaguara,
Ben Sáenz for his generous collaboration and
Susannah Mississippi Byrd for discovering
this book in the first place.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
San Vicente, Luis. [Festival de las Calaveras. English]
Festival of the bones = El festival de las calaveras : the
little-bitty book for the day of the dead / written and
illustrated by Luis San Vicente.—1st ed. p. cm.
“Originally published in Mexico as El Festival de las ca-
laveras.” Summary: Describes the Day of the Dead, or el
Día de los Muertos, a holiday celebrated in Mexico from
October 31 to November 2.
ISBN 978-0-938317-67-8 (HC); ISBN 978-1-941026-03-8 (PB)
1. All Souls’ Day—Mexico—Juvenile literature.
2. Mexico—Social life and customs—Juvenile literature.
[1. All Souls’ Day—Mexico. 2. Holidays—Mexico.
3. Mexico—Social life and customs. 4. Spanish language
materials—Bilingual.] I. Title.
GT4995.A4 S2513 2002 394.266—dc21 2002009764
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
THEY ARE COMING and they are going
And you see them passing by.
They are walking over here,
They are walking over there…
These are the dead.
How happy they are!
VAN y vienen
Y las ves pasar.
Andan por ahí,
Andan por allá...
Son las calaveras
Que felices están.
HEY, I’m flying!
Hey, I’m flying!
The festival is so far away…
The Day of the Dead is today.
¡VOY que vuelo!
¡Voy que vuelo!
Ahí a lo lejos se ve el festejo…
Hoy es Día de muertos.
THEY’RE COMING and they’re going
And you see them passing by.
They’re dancing over here,
They’re chatting over there…
It’s their day
And they’re going to have a good time.
VAN y vienen
Y las ves pasar.
Bailan por ahí,
Platican por allá…
Es su día
Y van a festejar.
PASCUAL’S SKELETON sings a song
Without any pain or dread
