Mexican culture is loved by some, hated by others and confused by others (C’mon, how is chili con carne not Mexican?). However, one of the most loved and exported traditions of Mexico is, without a doubt, the Day of the Dead. And without a doubt, this celebration cannot be complete without La Catrina, an authentic element of these dates.
What is La Catrina?
It started from the iconographic image that José Guadalupe Posada created in his caricatures at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, in which he portrayed the everyday life that progressively became related to the Day of the Dead (celebrated on November 1st and 2nd).
In Posada’s art, skeletons can be seen wearing haute couture clothes, dressed up, drinking pulque, on horseback and attending high society parties. This figure was a social criticism for those who denied their roots, those who pretended to be European even with indigenous blood. For this reason, Posada baptized it as La Calavera Garbancera.
It was thanks to the great muralist Diego Rivera that she was renamed La Catrina in his immortal work Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central (Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central).
In our store you can find Mexican ceramic sculptures of La Catrina. Take a look at our Mexican ceramics section to see our products!
A Mexican tradition of life and death
The mixture of pre-Hispanic traditions and the Catholic tradition, with the later North American influence and the artistic needs to express the popular discontent against those in power, made the Day of the Dead the propitious and necessary environment for the catrinas to find their strength, being a conjunction between the divine and the profane in which those who make the offerings only wish peace for the fallen and justice for their lives.
On October 28, Mexicans begin to honor the deceased, especially those who died in an accident or by the hand of another human being. On October 30 and 31, the children who died without being baptized are honored. On November 1 is the homage to the deceased children (baptized), who are the little saints, and on November 2 is the day of the dead where homage is paid to the deceased adults who mean something valuable and good to someone.
The altar is lit with candles and with the elements that made the life of the deceased remarkable and beautiful. Painting one’s face like the catrina (skull) is a symbolic way of being with the deceased in their own realm, but on earth, where their spirit arrives to share the same affection they had in life. At the end of the day, their soul will return to the light knowing that the love sown continues intact, even though their present body is not among them.
The tradition nowadays
Since the Day of the Dead was named a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, both the Mexican government and its citizens inside and outside of Mexico have kept the tradition intact, teaching it in its true value to people from other cultures.
It is not placing an image on an altar next to some candles and having a party. It is celebrating life and honoring death every day, committing to keep its memory, legacy and honor in every moment of its existence.
This is how Mexicans pursue their values even over the detractors of the same nationality, who are in the end overwhelmed by the feeling of millions of faces that show La Catrina accompanying the beings of light that come every November 2nd to rejoice for having sown seeds of love that transcended their own life.
And on the other hand, La Catrina is the face of death, of lies, of evil, of the abuse of those who have power and believe they are untouchable. In the face of a Mexican who is shown as a skull, the message is clearly expressed that we are all equal before life and death and that what they do wrong, here or there, they will pay for it, besides that no one will light a candle for their soul and no one will deserve an altar of a level, so that their evils in the past will remain.
