Very soon, get ready to enjoy a holiday with colorful costumes, delicious food, and celebrations centered around spirits.

No, Halloween enthusiasts, not that one – the other one.

Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a holiday with traditions thousands of years old that began in what is now known as Mexico but whose influence has spread to countries throughout the world, including the United States. Celebrated Nov. 1-2 throughout Latin America, the holiday is designed to honor departed family members and loved ones. Among those who observe the holiday, it is believed that the spirits of those loved ones return to visit their families.

One of the largest components of the Day of the Dead is making gravesite offerings to the deceased. Family members will bring favorite foods and beverages to their loved one’s final resting place or at private or public altars (ofrendas) to nourish the spirit along its journey through the afterlife. Mexican women also will bake pan de muerto (bread of the dead), a sweet bread decorated with edible skulls made from dough, to be left at the gravesite. Many altars will also include flowers (such as marigolds, the flower most associated with the holiday) and scented candles, as it is believed that the fragrances will help guide the departed soul from the cemetery to their familial home.

For the living, in addition to paying tribute to their deceased family members, the day is filled with lots of music, dancing, food, and beautiful costumes.

But first, a look back

The rituals associated with the Day of the Dead took root in Aztec and Mesoamerican cultures an estimated 3,000 years ago. In those ancient beginnings, the celebrations took place over the course of an entire month. With Spain’s brutal colonization of Latin America in 1519, however, the Spanish moved the holiday to coincide with the Catholic Church’s All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, creating the tradition blended from indigenous and European celebrations to which we are accustomed today, according to an October 2022 article by Rebekah Mejorado of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Perhaps no other imagery is more linked to the Day of the Dead celebrations than the “Calavera,” or skeleton. Unlike those skeletons appearing in imagery associated with Halloween, the Calavera is not meant to frighten or startle the viewer; instead, they are figures associated with joy and celebration. The Calavera usually appears in Day of the Dead decorations and art as either a complete skeleton or only a skull – though many are made from clay and elaborately decorated, these skulls also can be edible, too, made from sugar.

“This face has a definite aesthetic: a skull, wearing a much-embroidered bonnet resplendent with flowers,” writes Simon Ingram in an October 2019 article in National Geographic. “This is La Calavera Catrina – the ‘elegant skull’ – often simply La Catrina.”

Bring paper to the party

Another popular element of Day of the Dead festivities can be found in papel picado, or ‘pierced papers,’ colored tissue paper pierced with intricate designs using a knife and chisel. You can see them strung up high over streets and on altars; because they are made of tissue paper, these decorations represent the fragility of life. The themes presented in papel picado aren’t just limited to Day of the Dead celebrations, however. They also make colorful appearances for celebrations during Easter, and Christmas – even quinceaneras, baptisms, and weddings.

“Most papel picado is machine-cut today in order to mass-produce these detailed decorations, but only a few artists still continue to cut sheets by hand using a variety of chisels and knives to complete up to 50 sheets at a time,” according to California’s Chapman University.

It’s not ‘Mexican Halloween’

Though Day of the Dead festivities take place across the globe, here in the United States, it appears that celebrations of the holiday are especially grandiose the closer the state is in physical proximity to Mexico. States with high numbers of Mexican immigrants, including California and Texas, host themed parties every year, and other states with large celebrations include Louisiana, Florida, and even Illinois.

Closer to home, the holiday is still alive and well in states such as Missouri, where Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art hosts an annual altar decorated by local artists and created in collaboration with local students, the local Mexican Consulate, and the Mattie Rhodes Center, a nonprofit organization offering wraparound services to individuals and families in Kansas City’s Hispanic community.
No matter where you choose to join the party and pay tribute to your dearly departed loved ones, just make sure not to ever call Dia de los Muertos “The Mexican Halloween.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Although dwindling in number, there are still many Americans who have never heard of Día de los Muertos (or Day of the Dead). Those who have heard of it, but don’t really know much about it, sometimes refer to it as ‘Mexican Halloween,’” according to an Oct. 30, 2017, article on USAToday.com. “While Halloween and Day of the Dead do share common roots, they are totally different holidays.”

To learn more about Dia de los Muertos, visit The Smithsonian Institute’s Mexican Museum at www.mexicanmuseum.org/dia-de-los-muertos.

They added a dash of finesse to any floral arrangement. An instant conversation starter, they exuded style and fashion – above the neck, that is.

Lady head vases – also referred to as ‘lady head planters’ — were hot items in well-decorated homes for several decades, especially in postwar America. Now, they’re found in cyberspace on auction house websites, with some whose beauty is only matched by their dollar value.

Dressed in their Sunday best

The lady head vases with which most of us are familiar began to pop up around stores in the 1930s, but they had been around for more than 50 years before that, getting their start in Europe. By the 1930s, they had made their way to American shores, a symbol of what every lady desired to be.

“These ladies exude glamour, with their perfectly coiffed hairdos; big, lush eyelashes and ruby lips, elegant fashions and sometimes adorned with pearls or other jewelry, a stylish hat or gloves – or sometimes all three accessories,” according to a February 2023 article on Antique Trader.

Floral companies used the dainty, detail-rich pieces to sell more of their smaller bouquets, though they were just as readily found in five-and-dime stores (a pack of six could be purchased for just a few dollars). After World War II, lady head vases were one of the numerous products made in Occupied Japan by companies with names like Napco and Reubens.

We have American artist Betty Lou Nichols to thank for bringing the home décor trend to American shores. Nichols opened her own ceramics studio in 1945, adopting her own unique style, too.

“Her distinctive vases tend to be women in Gay ’90s-style, with big hats and big curls, perfect cheekbones and skin. They are painted in soft hues such as periwinkle, plum and mint,” the Antique Trader article reads. “The trademark Betty Lou look: to-die-for eyelashes lowered in perpetual coquetry. She produced thousands of heads, creating the basic shapes from a mold, as other makers did, but she was the only maker who added handmade details such as ruffles, lace and bows made of clay.”

Manufacturers such as Nichols and Henry Holt quickly gained popularity. Those makers included marks on the bottom of their vases, though some, according to Antique Trader, used a label made of foil or paper instead.

Vintage collectible

Of course, like any vintage collectible, there are basic features to look for when trying to determine whether the vase your grandmother passed down to you is actually worth anything. Those include:

•  Condition: Is the vase free of cracks or chips? Staining also can negatively affect value.
• Rarity: Although vases in the shape or style of ladies are common, vases portraying celebrities, characters or even men are much more rare and thus worth more.
• General attractiveness: Small details in the painting of the item will set it apart from its generic versions (and there are many, to be sure).
• Kitsch: If it’s especially fun or funky – again, unlike its more common counterparts – it’s likely to have more value.

The head collector

 And, like any worthwhile collectible, numerous printed resources exist to help the serious collector navigate his or her hunt for the ideal item. One of them, Schiffer Publishing’s “Head Vases Etc: The Artistry of Betty Lou Nichols,” includes more than 600 photos of Nichols collectibles (author Maddy Gordon calls Nichols’ lady head vases the ‘Rolls Royce’ of the category. Gordon herself edits the international Head Hunters newsletter and organizes an annual lady head vase convention. She is believed to have the largest lady head vase collection in the world, at more than 3,000 pieces).

“To me, (Nichols’) are the most outstanding of all,” Gordon said in a 1996 interview with The Los Angeles Times. “It’s a shame she didn’t get all the recognition she deserved while she was around to appreciate it.”

For those with smaller collections than Gordon’s, the lady head vase is a simple but eye-catching piece that adds a touch of elegance to any floral arrangement. Just try not to overdo it, cautions Janice Peterson of the horticulture blog Rotary Botanical Gardens.

“Although I enjoy collecting head vases, I try to not to own too many or group too many together,” Peterson wrote in a 2017 post on the website. “There is something a bit eerie about too many eyes watching you, and their posturing make them seem a bit judgmental!”

But the “insurance executive” failed to materialize. According to my business partner, his plane had crashed on the way to Kansas City, but that story never checked out. My business partner and I parted ways. Other alternatives were discussed, but I eventually found myself on my own.

Part of my partnership involved helping Murrel produce his weekly (along with another paper in Leavenworth County that he had a relationship with) as well as working to make our mutual Platte County project succeed. To enhance our paper, I hit upon the idea of a “history insert” that could be picked up from store counters, but would also be used as an insert, and serve as a bonus for subscribers. Williams would help with the editorial content, as would other writers, including Vera Haworth Eldridge, a Liberty resident who contributed many history pieces about both counties over the years.

For several years, Betty Soper, long-time president of the Platte County Historical Society, published a column, “Genealogy Queries,” answering questions about ancestry issues. The Society’s offices also have been a long-time repository of back issues of Discover North.
During the paper’s first decade, it became apparent that antique and collectible shops and malls were among its most enthusiastic supporters. Rather than being competitive with other businesses, antique shops found they could prosper by supporting each other, and promoting their town as an “antiquing destination.” As a result, the paper was able to grow, adding advertisers in small towns outside the original Clay-Platte market area.

The first expansion took the paper south of the Missouri River and into Kansas City and Independence. Other areas quickly followed. Eventually, separate editions extended the paper’s reach into surrounding states. The idea of multiple editions eventually was abandoned due to printing complexity, and by the early 2000s the new Discover Mid-America had reached readers in nine Midwestern states.

Hats off to my former employer Discover Vintage America for navigating the treacherous waters of modern publishing and carving out such an enduring niche in a market that keeps on surprising with its resiliency.

I am forever grateful to former publisher Bruce Rodgers for giving me the opportunity to serve as editor of Discover from 2012 to 2020. Bruce knew I harbored a “history gene” and that I wouldn’t really be able to pass up the chance. And this old dog learned a lot from him, even on the back slope of my journalism career. Bruce had that gruff exterior and liked to bark on the phone sometimes. But he has that proverbial “soft heart” and was generous to the ones he respected and loved. There are a couple of cats in Florida living better lives these days because of Bruce Rodgers.

But, coming into the Discover Vintage America family introduced me to its founder, Ken Weyand, who was writing a monthly regional travel column at the time.

By way of example, my wife, Lorraine, started working for Hallmark Cards in 1984 as a photo stylist. One of her responsibilities was “propping,” that is, going to stores, especially antique shops, and renting items to use as props in photo shoots. Shop owners loved this. Her mentor, Carol Hale, put a copy of Discover in her hands and told her “This is the bible for antiques in the Midwest.”

Discover’s columnists remain faithful and offer insights into many aspects of collecting antiques. Peggy Whiteneck’s common-sense approach to collecting and marketing in “Good Eye” is always illuminating and full of good ol’ New England practicality. Sandra Starley knows more about quilting and its history than anybody I know, and her monthly “Covering Quilts” column proves that. And the venerable Anne Gilbert offered up her knowledge of the trade right up to her death at age 96 in June.

I’m not saying that Bruce has big feet, just that he had a lot on his plate as owner and publisher of Discover Vintage America. I know even more now how true that is. This probably sounds corny, but I know my angels were guiding me when I landed in the art director’s chair at the Discover Vintage America office in North Kansas City 10 years ago.

After 25 years in IT, as a software programmer, tester, and project manager, I left the corporate world and returned to school to learn graphic design, which combined a love of art with my computer skills. Midway through the program, when looking for a summer job, Bruce convinced me to come work for him on Discover, but not just for the summer. I guess it was a good fit because here I still am!

I love Discover Vintage America. I love the history of the magazine and the fact that the publication is quite vintage itself, having been around for 50 years now.

When I bought the publication in January 2001, people didn’t really text. The phone worked fine or, if not, just show up in person. By the time I left 17 years later, Discover had kept up with the time — Facebook, an improved website and, I imagine, a whole lot more texting. The only thing missing is an “antique” license plate like they hang on automobiles, except they do that after 25 years.

I’m not surprised Discover has 50 years under its belt. It performed a service and still does. The marriage of a small businessperson and a love of antiques needs a big voice. Discovery Publications (now Discover Vintage Revival) through Discover Vintage America does that.

Life moves on. Things get old, things get better. There’s always a champion of this or that. I’m not sure how much I did to keep it going, but I’m proud to have been a part of it. My congratulations to Patti Klinge and the rest of the staff. Sometimes, old things don’t get old.

Bruce Rodgers publisher, 2001-2018

The “Voice” of Discover Vintage America

Over the past 27 years, he has become the “voice” of Discover Vintage America and an important member of the team. As the senior advertising account representative, most people calling to advertise have spoken with Al Hedrick on the telephone at least once. His comforting voice evokes confidence that running an ad in Discover will bring shoppers to stores and visitors to events. He takes an interest in his clients and remembers to ask about the kids… that’s just the kind of guy he is.

Al joined the Discover team in 1996 when he was closing his design business and wanted to sell the computers and other office equipment he no longer needed. Ken Weyand, then owner and publisher of Discover, took him up on the offer and then asked if he might want to try his hand at selling ads for the publication. Obviously, that worked out well. He may be a little old-fashioned in his approach, but he has his own style of selling and it seems to work for him.

Now that he’s getting on in years, the days of road trips to neighboring states to sell ads are over, but he remembers fondly the past trips to Omaha, St. Joseph, Wichita, Weston, Ottawa, St. Louis, to name a few.

Annual KC Press Club contest

In 2014, Bruce suggested that we submit an entry to the annual KC Press Club contest, where peers in another market judge publications in various categories. We won a silver award that year and at least one award each subsequent year that we entered the contest. In 2017 we hit the Motherload, taking two silvers and a gold award in our “Business-to-Business” category.

Best Part

The best part was that I was reacquainted with Corbin Crable, who was on the board at the time. Eventually, I was asked to join the board for a year and met some great folks who were passionate about supporting print publications.

The massive changes in the way we communicate are especially obvious to those of us who are in our “retirement years,” and notice (with dismay) the decline of metro dailies and much of print journalism in general.

“Old hands” also remember when producing a shopper or “neighborhood weekly” involved a crew of “paste-up artists” armed with “X-acto” knives and plastic “burnishers.” After the type had been keyboarded, a cartridge would be removed from a processor and taken to a darkroom, where rolls of photo paper would emerge to be waxed, cut into smaller pieces, and applied to light-weight card stock. These “paste-up boards” would be ruled in lines of non-reproducing blue, making it easier to assemble the ads and editorial copy.

Much could go wrong in the process. I recall a hot day in August when I had picked up a box of paste-up boards to take to a printer. My car had been parked in the sun, with an interior temperature well above 100 degrees. By the time I reached the printers’ offices and opened the box, the wax that once secured everything had melted, and the once-burnished ads and editorial items looked like hundreds of curled-up potato chips.

After an hour or so of careful burnishing (with my heart in my mouth) I managed to salvage the mess, while the printer, well over his deadline, paced the floor. All would be well until the next issue when new challenges were sure to arise.

At least one trip to the printer involved leaving the box atop my car as I fumbled with keys and other things. Luckily I had barely started when I discovered the problem. The box fell off the car and some of the boards scattered on the asphalt. Fortunately, the day was cooler, and I was able to gather everything up and be on my way.

It was an aesthetic that defined an entire decade.

A visualization of the wealth, style and creativity of the 1920s, the Art Deco design movement could be found just about everywhere you looked, from soaring skyscrapers to everyday items like tea kettles and clocks, from graphic design to automobiles. And an appreciation of all things Art Deco can be found not just in our homes, but also in the institutions that govern and entertain us, such as municipal buildings, museums and concert halls. Items designed in the Art Deco style utilized basic geometric shapes and were both “sleek and hand-crafted, rich but not ornate, showy but not overly ornamental,” according to a trend expert at Modsy. It was influenced by the Egyptology craze of the late Victorian era, which had seen a resurgence in the 1920s with the discovery of King Tut’s tomb.

Born in France

The Art Deco movement actually began years before it exploded into our collective consciousness during the Jazz Age. It grew out of the Art Nouveau design movement of the late 19th century, which itself was defined by elaborate, organic patterns steeped in nature and plant/floral life, as well as curved lines and asymmetry. Art Nouveau also took inspir-ation from many character-istics of Cubism, most notably, collages. Its heyday ran from the 1880s to the start of World War I; the actual name “Art Deco” (originally called “French Arts Decoratifs”) was coined for this movement in the 1960s, decades after it ended.

Like Art Nouveau, the Art Deco movement saw its origins in Europe in the early 1920s, starting with jewelry and textiles, then being incorporated into furniture, and finally, architecture. Materials used in Art Deco-style pieces included stainless steel, Bakelite, plastics, and some even incorporated horn, ivory and zebra skin. By 1925, the movement had gone global after being introduced at an exhibit held in Paris, making its way into the skyscrapers of metropolitan areas around the world. Rejecting the naturalism of Art Nouveau, items created in the Art Deco style used sharp lines and vibrant colors to represent an embracing of the fast-paced industrial world, according to Collectors Weekly.

Art Deco even found its way into cinema, featuring prominently in German filmmaker Fritz Lang’s dystopian-future tale Metropolis, which was released in 1927.

Art Deco’s decline

Art Deco’s global popular-ity, which seemingly touched just about every facet of life in the 1920s, began to wane with the onset of the Great Depression and accelerated with the start of World War II. By 1939, the style was simply viewed as too “garish and decadent.”
“Metals were repurposed to be used in the construction of weaponry rather than beautifying structures or interior spaces,” the Art File Magazine article notes. “Furnishings weren’t seen as prestige symbols anymore.”

In addition, the article reads the appeal of Art Deco objects – their widespread availability – was reduced by technological innovations in mass production. “Further technical advancements enabled cheaper manufacture of basic consumer products, reducing the demand for and appeal of Art Deco designers.”

Thankfully, trends in antiques and vintage collecting are cyclical, and with the renewed interest in Mid-Century Modern design in recent years comes a renewed examination of its elements, many of which take influence from Art Deco.

“A movement that in many ways aimed to reject the past is now seen as a nostalgic, beloved classic,” Art File Magazine says. “There has been a consistent, ongoing appreciation of the design since the 1960s. Mid-Century Modern design, which revives the sterile purity of the Bauhaus and continues forth the Art Deco aesthetic’s streamlined style, has elements of Art Deco.”

Art Deco, for all of its visual beauty, symbolized optimism in the future, conveying the message that surely better times were on the horizon and that which ails us will become only a memory.

“There was going to be no more poverty, no more ignorance, no more disease,” wrote the late Robert McGregor, who worked to preserve the Art Deco heritage of a New Zealand town. “Art Deco reflected that confidence, vigor, and optimism by using symbols of progress, speed, and power.”

They’re durable, they’re colorful, and they’re cherished hand-me-downs that have survived decades in your kitchen and your life on the go.

Tupperware, the name ubiquitous with storage containers designed to keep foods fresh, has a long and storied history, but it might be on the chopping block, according to an article published in late April on CNN’s website.

“Known the world over for its plastic food storage containers and its sales parties, Florida-based Tupperware warned that the company was running out of cash and needed additional money – soon – to say in operation,” the article states. “In some ways, the 77-year-old brand is still a titan: It’s, literally, a household name, and its vivid juice- and fruit-colored products are for sale in nearly 70 countries.

… (But) experts say this is what happens when a once-pioneering brand, beloved by families through generations, is unable to adapt to an evolving marketplace, brutal competition and attitudes and needs of younger consumers.”

Fighting food waste

But for those of us whose Tupperware still sits in our cabinets, pantries, and refrigerators, sturdy and beloved as ever, the brand harkens back to a simpler time, when the years immediately following World War II gave rise to innovations in seemingly every industry imaginable – none more so than the American kitchen.

Inventor and businessman Earl Tupper had experimented with other products throughout the Great Depression with little success – garter stockings, shoe heels, comb cases, and even a boat powered by fish. It wasn’t until Tupper began working in a DuPont-owned plastics plant in Massachusetts that he conceived the idea for the invention that would finally make him a household name.
Launched in 1946 by Tupper, the line of food serving and storage products that bore his name featured a bell shape that the businessman had been developing over the course of the previous four years. The products were largely made of the now-commonly used plastic called polyethylene, which Tupper himself had discovered in 1938. Tupper even developed a “burping seal” for the products – an airtight seal that worked by lifting the lid, allowing for a “burp” of air out, and then pushing the lid firmly down again. He acquired a patent for the lid in 1950.