This bundle started with one simple belief:
Representation matters.
When someone walks into a playroom or approaches a sandtray, I want them to be able to find pieces of their world. Their family. Their traditions. Their culture. Their celebrations. Their grief. Their everyday life.
And if Serendipity is going to create miniatures intended to represent a culture, it is incredibly important to me that we don't just make something that looks right.
I want us to do our best to GET IT RIGHT.
That meant asking questions, listening, learning, changing things, and getting input from people who actually know the culture we are trying to represent.
I owe a HUGE thank you to Esmeralda Espinoza, Ceci Cade, Diana Luna, Brenda Zavala, and Ester Belche-Anderson, who generously helped me as I worked through the pieces for our new Mexican Heritage Bundle.
These lovely ladies helped me think about what belonged, what things meant, and what could help make this collection meaningful rather than simply a collection of recognizable symbols.
And y'all . . . they gave me SO MANY more ideas. 😂
So while this is our first Mexican Heritage Bundle, it certainly won't be the end of Mexican representation at Serendipity. There are already more individual miniatures and ideas coming!
But there was another important lesson in creating this bundle.
Originally, I was calling it the Hispanic Heritage Bundle.
Then I was talking it through with my sister, Ashley.
Her son—my nephew—is Puerto Rican. As we talked, it became obvious that there are things that are distinctly part of his Puerto Rican heritage that wouldn't necessarily be represented by a collection of Mexican cultural items.
And there it was.
“Hispanic Heritage” was simply too broad.
People who fall under that enormous umbrella don't all share one culture. Mexican heritage isn't Puerto Rican heritage. Puerto Rican heritage isn't Cuban heritage. Cuban heritage isn't Colombian heritage . . . and on and on.
Each has its own foods, traditions, symbols, history, celebrations, language variations, family experiences, and stories that deserve more than being lumped together because a broader label is easier.
So the Hispanic Heritage Bundle became the Mexican Heritage Bundle.
And that conversation changed something bigger, too.
We aren't stopping here.
This is the beginning of something I have wanted Serendipity to do more intentionally: creating culturally specific collections and making it easier for therapists to find miniatures that may represent the people sitting across from them.
The Mexican Heritage Bundle includes pieces such as the cempasúchil, ofrenda frame, monarch butterfly, Xoloitzcuintli, chancla, concha and Pan de Muerto, calavera de azúcar, Talavera-inspired pottery, papel picado, and Día de los Muertos figures.
Some represent celebration. Some remembrance. Some family and home. Some ancestry, transition, grief, humor, tradition, or connection.
And none of us at Serendipity get to decide what they mean when they enter the sandtray.
The person choosing them does.
That's the beautiful part.
Our job is simply to make sure the pieces are there so more people have the opportunity to look across a miniature collection and find something that says:
“There I am.”
So THANK YOU again to Esmeralda, Ceci, Diana, Brenda, and Ester for sharing your knowledge, ideas, and voices with me. You helped make this bundle better—and apparently helped make my future printing list a whole lot longer. 😂💜
And to everyone else . . .
Get ready.
Mexican Heritage is only the beginning.
There are many cultures, many stories, and many communities we want to represent as Serendipity continues to grow.
One culture doesn't represent everyone.
One bundle certainly can't represent an entire culture.
But miniature by miniature . . . we can build a collection where more people can find pieces of themselves.