La Calavera Catrina

Effigies of La Calavera Catrina at Tonalá's tianguis (market), State of Jalisco, Mexico, before the Day of the Dead.

Rivera's mural depicts a culmination of 400 years of Mexico's major figures, which include himself, Posada, and Frida Kahlo. Rivera took inspiration from the original etching and gave Calavera a body as well as more of an identity in her elegant outfit as she is poised between himself and Posada. The intent seemed to be to show the tradition of welcoming and comfort the Mexicans have with death and especially the identity of a Lady of the Dead, harking back to the heritage of the Aztec goddess Mictecacihuatl. As explained by curator David de la Torre from the LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, a Mexican-American museum and cultural center in Los Angeles, California, US, Catrina has come to symbolize not only Día de Muertos and the Mexican willingness to laugh at death itself, but originally Catrina was an elegant or well-dressed woman, so it refers to rich people,[5] de la Torre said. "Death brings this neutralizing force; everyone is equal in the end. Sometimes people have to be reminded of that."

The culture of La Calavera has ties to political satire and is also a well-kept tradition as the original was inspired by the polarizing reign of dictator Porfirio Díaz. Díaz is lauded for modernizing and bringing financial stability to Mexico, but he also led his government in repression, corruption, and excess, and had an apparent obsession with European materialism and culture. Christine Delsol writes: "Concentration of fantastic wealth in the hands of the privileged few brewed discontent in the hearts of the suffering many, leading to the 1910 rebellion that toppled Diaz in 1911 and became the Mexican Revolution."[5]

She also symbolizes the contrasts between the upper and lower classes, for times were cruel. The social classes were extremely segmented and the highest class was the most fortunate, enjoying many privileges; in contrast, the lower classes were nearly invisible. To explain and rescue the folklore of honoring the memory of those who have died, while showing this off to high society, José Guadalupe Posada made caricatures of Death, one of these drawings being the famous Calavera with an elegant hat, though only representing the head and bust with a sophisticated and skeletal essence.[3]

The calavera's ties to the past heritage of the Aztecs can be seen in various ways. The indigenous culture of skulls and the death-goddess Mictecacihuatl is common in pre-Columbian art. Lady of the Dead, Mictecacihuatl, was keeper of the bones in the underworld, and she presided over the ancient month-long Aztec festivals honoring the dead. Since the pre-Columbian era, Mexican culture has maintained a certain reverence towards death,[6] which can be seen in the widespread commemoration of the Day of the Dead.[7] With Christian beliefs superimposed on the ancient rituals, those celebrations have evolved into today's Day of the Dead.[5]

As for the Spanish heritage (the death-orientation of the monastic orders, Dance of Death, and memento mori traditions), it blended with the average Mexican's stoic, but far from humorless, view of death.¹ Some find La Catrina to have closer ties to the Dance of Death than to the possible origins of the calavera in the art of ancient Mesoamerica. La Calavera differs markedly from the rigid sobriety of skulls carved by the Aztec or images of decomposing corpses depicted by the ancient Maya. In prints and various other art forms associated with the Day of the Dead—everything from papier-mâché to papel picado (perforated paper) to sugar and chocolate—images of the calavera are unmistakably humorous. The skeletons, often dressed in finery, move playfully and smile widely. In some ways, these animated figures are much closer visually to the European Dance of Death motif in which limber skeletons lead, lure, or drag unwitting mortals to their ends.[8]

Though these interpretations seem to ignore the full relationship that the Mexicans have with death, as well as the macabre humor that ties to the cycle of life, death and ceremony that the Aztecs had, it should be understood that few countries pay homage to death the way Mexico does; offerings, songs, respect and humor are all common Mexican expressions towards death.[9] The European ties are there both for comic effect as well as depicting the symbolic shell that Europe cloaked Mesoamerica in, but the native bones still lie within.

La Calavera Catrina today can be found in her more traditional form both in drawn works as well as sculptures made out of Oaxacan wood carvings, papier-mâché sculptures, majolica pottery, and Barro negro black clay pottery. She is also coupled with male skeletons.