Celebrating Life after Death

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a Mexican holiday celebrated every year on November 2 as a day to honor and remember loved ones who have departed. There are many traditions associated with the celebration and many influences that have shaped the holiday we know today. Some see similarities to All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day and influences from Spanish Catholicism, and some believe the holiday may have connections to ancient Aztec festivals which honored the dead.

But this holiday is a joyful occasion since it is the only time of year where the living invite the spirits of their loved ones back from the afterworld to be together for one night. Although this holiday occurs near the American celebration of Halloween, Día de los Muertos is not meant to be a sad or spooky occasion. In fact, it is the opposite.

Living family members set up altars, or ofrendas either in the home or at the burial site to welcome back the souls of their loved ones. Altars are typically adorned with photos, marigolds, candles, decorated sugar skulls, papel picado (cut-paper designs), and offerings of their loved ones’ favorite foods, beverages, and mementos. It is thought that the aromas of their favorite foods will show the dead how much they are loved. To celebrate, families enjoy special pan de muertos, a sweet bread decorated with bone-shaped pieces and topped with sugar.

Another tradition is creating calaveras. “Calaveras” means skulls in Spanish, but it also refers to literary calaveras, which are often satirical poems and illustrations that criticize individuals as well as social and political issues in society. The artist who popularized this tradition is José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913). Posada was an illustrator, political cartoonist, lithographer, and engraver who is famous for his prints that satirically commented on current events in Mexico. Though humorous, his work sheds light on serious subjects, including the inequality among the classes and the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. Prints were inexpensive and could be widely distributed to the public. Combining text with imagery, he created statements that were simultaneously powerful, amusing, and scathing. His work influenced many other well-known 20th-century artists from Mexico, including Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco.

The Skeleton of the Buses (La Calavera de los Camiones) is an example of how Posada used his art to comment on social issues. The print shows the dangers of electric trams in Mexico City at the time. Artist Frida Kahlo was injured in 1925 when she was 18 years old, when the bus she was riding collided with an electric streetcar. The accident tragically ended her dreams of becoming a doctor, and caused her lifelong physical pain and medical issues. This partly fueled her artistic career. Posada also used this image, with different text, to criticize the modern fascination with electricity. This type of print is often called a broadside: large, inexpensive, one-sided sheets historically used as posters to make announcements and commentary; they could also fold into pamphlets. Posada created thousands of these works throughout his career.

Posadas’s most famous calavera was La Catrina, in which he mocked the wealthy aristocrats who adopted European traditions in the pre-revolution era. It features an image of a skull of a wealthy lady wearing a large hat decorated with flowers and feathers. Her image (along with Posada’s many other skeletons) has become a symbol for Día de los Muertos. Posada once said, “La muerte es democratica, ya que a fin de cuentas, guera, morena, rica o pobre, toda la gente acaba siendo calavera,” which means, “Death is democratic. After all, blond or brunette, wealthy or poor, everybody ends up being a skull.” The practice of publishing humorous calaveras (with illustrations and text) is still alive today, and part of contemporary Día de los Muertos traditions. — Arielle Levine

Keeping Tradition Alive

For the past several years, the Cleveland community has celebrated Día de los Muertos at the Cleveland Public Theatre campus on the west side. The celebration has been organized at a grassroots level by northeast Ohio Latino artists and musicians to preserve a rich cultural legacy, not only for the Mexican local community, but to encompass all Latino and non-Latino communities in Ohio.

All of us have experienced the death of a loved one, but when local artists invite the community to share in the Día de los Muertos celebration, it introduces an inclusive and creative outlet to bridge the secular and the spiritual worlds — as well as a bridge to Mexican and Mexican American tradition. The imaginatively designed ofrendas offer a unique approach to honoring deceased family or friends, which is especially relevant to the current pandemic. In the home, ofrendas are personal and private, but when shared in a public setting, they become an art installation filled with sculpture, paintings, and elaborate arrangements of natural and man-made items. These publicly shown ofrendas are statements that initiate dialogue and reflection.

As an artist who participated many times in the Cleveland Día de los Muertos event, it is amazing to watch a public space transform into a spiritual site to honor our dead. A parade of calaveras fills the streets with puppets, costumes of skeletons, and beautifully face-painted skulls that follow the billowing smoke of copal to welcome the dead to join in the festivities. A colorful and decorative temporary cemetery is constructed and vendors come to sell their Day of the Dead goods, while live music and performances of calaveras tell the stories of mischief and legends, informing all who wish to learn and partake of a rich, vibrant, cultural tradition.

Today’s celebrations of Día de los Muertos allow us to embrace death as part of life and honor the spirits of those we’ve lost. Using humor and celebration eases fears about death, teaches acceptance, and can help us through difficult times. Posada’s calaveras helped his generation, and many after him, express their frustrations and struggles. They remind us that sadness and joy, tears and laughter, and life and death are inseparable. ―Dante Rodriguez, CMA mount maker

Celebrate Día de los Muertos with more artworks by Mexican artists in CMA’s Collection Online, and learn more about this colorful and lively holiday through additional resources below.

Smithsonian Latino Center (SLC), Washington, DC, United States - Google Arts & Culture

La Catrina - A History - The Grace Museum