Calaveraland Cultural — Heritage, Education & Collaboration

Calaveraland Cultural is the educational and cultural branch of the Calaveraland universe.

“Truth wears a different coat in every culture, but beneath that coat, its essence is always the same.”

Día de los Muertos, recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2008, is the Mexican coat of this universal truth. A tradition with indigenous roots (Nahua/Mexica) and Catholic influences, where colour, music, food and storytelling come together to remember loved ones, not with mourning, but with joy.

🏛️ UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2008

Calaveraland brings this tradition to children, teens and parents in the Netherlands, with respect for its Mexican origins, and as a bridge between cultures. What we offer is not about scares or entertainment, but about the heart of it:

• The spiritual bond between generations.
• The warmth of remembrance.
• The power of the connection that grows from family heritage.

Educational programme

A series of substantive, small-scale activities that can be offered individually or as part of a broader programme. Suitable for ages 4 to 16, appropriate for family visits and school classes alike.

Preschool 4-7 Children 8-13 Teens 12-16 Families Schools

Escape Room — The Mystery of the Amulets

An interactive experience of about half an hour in which children work in teams to find Lola's three magical amulets. Puzzles, secret symbols and clues from the story lead them past the CALASVNX (the spiritual forces that guard the balance between worlds in the Calaveraland universe) — and let them experience that cooperation, intuition and pure intention are the real keys to completing the challenge.

Discover the story

An immersive walkthrough where children don't read Lola's story — they uncover it themselves. With a small blacklight torch they shine on walls and props and reveal the storyline — written and painted in invisible UV paint. Every corner of the room becomes a layer that only appears to those who look with the right gaze. A tangible translation of the Calaveraland philosophy: the true story is never on the surface, but waits for those who take the time to see. Far more interactive and memorable than a reading session.

Calavera Challenge

A Calaveraland-themed laser maze: crawl, bend and slip nimbly through a web of light marking the space between worlds — without touching the threads. A physical, adrenaline-charged challenge for solo players or teams. Museum-quality, especially popular with teens — an audience museums notoriously struggle to reach.

Calavera friendship jewellery

Bracelets and necklaces strung from colourful beads, mini skulls and letters. A creative, accessible workshop for all ages.

Candle decorating

A meditative, hands-on workshop in which candles are decorated with Día de los Muertos symbols — for the home or for the ofrenda altar.

Day of the Dead make-up

The art of the Catrina — colourful face painting as a celebration of life. Professionally guided, popular with teens.

Colouring the skulls

The calavera illustrations from the book offered as colouring pages — together with an explanation of the symbolism: cempasúchil (Mexican marigolds), monarch butterflies, colours and patterns.

Ofrenda workshop

Children build a small altar for someone they love: a grandfather, a distant grandmother, a friend who moved away, a pet. They learn that remembering is a form of loving.

Free — NL schools only Calaveraland — the school play

The School Play

Cintia offers schools an adaptation of Calaveraland as a theatre play — for classes of 15 to 30 children. Children take on the roles and experience the story on stage themselves. Short or long version on request, offered free of charge to schools in the Netherlands. Cintia's background as an actress and theatre teacher (four years of theatre classes for children in Brazil) allows each adaptation to be tailored to the level and dynamics of the group. Delivered in Dutch.

Cintia del Mastro with Día de los Muertos make-up — Cintia del Mastro

a bridge-builder, not an authority

Cintia del Mastro was born in São Paulo, Brazil. She has lived in the Netherlands since 2000 and in Rotterdam since 2009. Before settling in the Netherlands, she studied at drama school in Brazil, worked in the early years of her career as an actress, and taught theatre classes to children for four years. Later she specialised in experience design and story-based attractions for theme parks worldwide. That dual foundation — stage and experience — now forms the heart of Calaveraland: a story that can be performed, told and experienced.

She writes and designs not from the position of a Mexican expert. Día de los Muertos is a Mexican tradition, carried by Mexican communities. Cintia sees herself as a bridge-builder: someone who can help children in the Netherlands — with all their different backgrounds — experience that heritage is a gift, and that their own roots are a source of self-confidence.

In every cultural programme, she welcomes collaboration with Mexican communities, cultural advisors and partner organisations who carry the tradition from within.

A universal language of honour

At its essence, Día de los Muertos is an honouring of the dead — a tradition in which, on November 1st and 2nd, families gather in the belief that the souls of their loved ones truly return home during these days.

It is not an isolated practice. In countless cultures across the world, honour is paid in various ways to those who came before us — from Obon in Japan and Qingming (Ching Ming) in China to Finados in Brazil and All Souls' Day in Europe. Each with their own rituals, but sharing the same underlying human thought: we do not forget you. In that, Día de los Muertos speaks a universal language.

Calaveraland connects children with that universal value — through a story that invites them to discover their own family, their own roots, and their own way of remembering.

The theme is used today across many sectors — from entertainment to marketing — and is sometimes lifted out of its original context. What remains unchanged in Calaveraland is a solid respect for the Mexican tradition as it is carried by its own communities. Alongside this, the books carry a personal reflection from the author — not an element of Día de los Muertos doctrine, but a universal thought Cintia weaves into her story: that those we love may live on not only in our hearts, but in a way we cannot fully name. This spiritual layer is clearly distinguished from Mexican cultural heritage and is presented as such.

Calaveraland is not a scare story. It is an invitation to children to face their fears rather than run from them. In Lola's universe, goodness, intention and the power of the spirit are not a metaphor — they are the natural law of the story itself. The young reader follows Lola as she discovers that true magic is not in the amulets, but in herself: in her own strength, her own wish, her own goodness. The book is a guide to real magic — the magic of your own power.

“Día de los Muertos is not about death.
It is about the love that survives it.”