Ceramic Skull with Monarca Butterflies
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Catrina with Red Dress
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Colorful Skull Vase
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Day of the Dead Life Tree
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by Susan Page

Skulls and skeletons appear with great frequency in Mexican folk art, especially around the annual Day of the Dead holiday. The reason for this reaches far back into Mexican history.

More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish conquistadors landed in what is now Mexico, they encountered indigenous communities practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death. The Aztecs kept skulls as trophies, displayed them on walls and in temples, and used them during rituals to symbolize death and rebirth. The skulls honored the dead, whom the Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations believed came back to visit during an annual ritual. The Aztecs viewed death, not as the end of life, but as the continuation of it. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it.

Catrina with Guacamayas
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Huichol Beaded Skull
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The newly arrived Spaniards considered the ritual using skulls to be barbaric and pagan, and tried to eradicate it. But when, like the Aztec ancestors themselves, the ritual would not die, the Spaniards simply incorporated it into Christianity, or perhaps more likely, the Aztecs brought it with them when they were converted. The closest the Catholics could come to a similar holiday was All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, and gradually, the two traditions merged.

In about 1910, the cartoon illustrator José Guadalupe Posada created the skeleton "Catrina," to make fun of wealthy Mexicans who thought the only worthwhile style was that of European aristocrats. That cartoon became an icon and gave rise to more skeletons in all folk art mediums.

Lacquered Gourd
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Lacquered Gourd
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The skulls and skeletons used in Day of the Dead altars and seen widely in Mexican folk art are not about death but rather about the duality of life and death, a statement that death is an integral part of life. Because the skeletons are never dead! They are riding bicycles, selling their wares, taking a shower, dancing, getting married, feeding their children, and generally enjoying life. They accept death and even make fun of it.

Some say they are laughing at the hubris of the living, who are foolish, fearful, and unappreciative of life! "You who are living," they seem to say, "are rejecting the joy of life. You are not embracing each other enough! Watch us!"

So when you see a skeleton or skull in a piece of folk art, realize that you are viewing a powerful symbol, rife with meaning, and participating in a tradition that dates back 3,000 years or more. The duality of life and death that they represent is like the yin/yang of Mexican culture.

Catrina with Beautiful Dress
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Linares Family Skull
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Mata Ortiz Pottery
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Day of the Dead Altars

Mexicans believe it is critically important to keep the memory of loved ones alive by creating altars that honor them. There are three deaths, they believe: the first death occurs when you stop breathing and physically die. The second death occurs when you are buried or cremated. And the third death occurs when no one living remembers that you existed. That is why the Day of the Dead altars are so important. By remembering and honoring your loved ones, you prevent that third death.

Paper Maché Bike Rider
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Paper Maché Bird Seller
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How to Celebrate Day of the Dead

Your own celebration of Day of the Dead can include any of the following activities:

• Walk all over Centro to view creative and moving altars in public buildings, some created by artists.

• Consider building your own altar to honor your beloved friends or relatives who have died. The idea is that they journey back to be with you in a special way on this day. In addition to photos of your loved ones, altars traditionally include bright marigold flowers to guide them to you, candles to light their way, cut paper flags symbolizing the fragility of life, water to quench their thirst on their journey, salt as the spice of life, the deceased person's favorite foods and small items that represent their hobbies and occupations, and sugar skulls and figures that are a venerable Mexican tradition.

Paper Maché Catrina Flowers Seller
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Skull with Flowers
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• Visit graveyards where families will be cleaning and decorating the graves of their beloveds who have died and maybe sharing a picnic along with memories and stories. Of course, be extremely respectful of these private family gatherings.

• Visit the large, comprehensive collection of Day of the Dead folk art at Galería Atotonilco. a special opportunity, right here in San Miguel. You will see a huge variety of authentic folk art, each style unique to one village where the tradition could be hundreds to thousands of years old, passed down through many generations. The extraordinary variety and creativity from villages all over Mexico, collected together in one place over the past twenty-plus years, is dazzling. The gallery is five miles north of town, open Monday through Saturday, 11am to 4pm. Closed Sunday.

Tonalá Catrina Plate
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Vegetable Seller
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Galería Atotonilco, located five miles north of town. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 11am to 4pm with no appointment necessary. It is widely considered to be the finest collection of folk art for sale in all of Mexico. The collection also includes colonial-era tables and trunks, prints by the famous Oaxacan graphic artist Irving Herrera, contemporary ceramics by the world-famous Gustavo Pérez and more. Don't wait. Plan a day in the country soon. We are surrounded by restaurants, hot springs, and the historic Atotonilco church.

Galería Atotonilco
An Unforgettable Experience of Mexico

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Susan Page is the former Director of Women's Programs at UC Berkeley, where she helped to found the Contraception Clinic at the Student Health Service, and to create one of the first university-based Human Sexuality programs in the U.S. She helped establish the first safe house for battered women in Contra Costa County. A best-selling author, Susan has appeared widely on national television and radio, including the Oprah Winfrey Show. She founded and is president of the San Miguel Writers' Conference and Literary Festival and of Gáleria Atotonilco.

www.susanpage.com

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