Tradition of the Catrina in Dia de los Muertos by Mary Cummins aka Maria Catrina Rivera Cummins

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Today Dia de los Muertos aka Day of the Dead has been highly commercialized in Mexico, USA and around the world. Dia de Muertos has been mixed in with Halloween here in the United States. The fancy lady skeleton Catrina costume to some is now just a "spooky" Halloween costume. The real Catrina from Dia de los Muertos is not a scary Halloween costume at all. It has a rich and complex history starting in Mexico.

Artist Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) created the original "calavera catrina" pictured above published 1913 which he named "Calavera Garbancera." "Calavera" means "skull." "Catrina" translates roughly as "dapper" or "fancy." “Garbancera” means "chickpeas" is a nickname for an Indigenous American (who sold chickpeas) who tries to look European and denies their own heritage. "The Catrina hides her Mexican origins by wearing a French style hat and just her bones which make her look whiter." Posada's catrina wore a turn of the century European dress. 

Jose Posada was making fun of indigenous Mexicans who put on European airs. He was also showing us that we are all merely humans who will die and become skeletons. What we look like, what we wear doesn't matter. “Death is democratic. At the end, regardless of whether you are white, dark, rich or poor, we all end up as skeletons.” (Jose Posada)

"In 1947, the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) elaborated on Posada's image and created a full-scale figure that he placed in his fresco "A Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Park" (now in the Museo Mural Diego Rivera). Whereas Posada's print likely intended to satirize upper class women of the Porfiriato, Rivera, through various iconographic attributes that referenced indigenous cultures, rehabilitated her into a Mexican national symbol." 

The central focus of Diego's mural is the "display of bourgeois complacency and values shortly before the Mexican Revolution of 1910." Diego's catrina was a Mexican woman who wore a fancy European hat, dress and feather boa but the feather boa had the head of a serpent. The catrina is on the arm of Jose Posada. Diego as a child holds her hand as if she is his mother.

"Catrina became central to Mexican identity in part because Posada was made into the "primary artistic ancestor figure" for the generation of the Mexican Muralists. Additionally, for many years, influential Day of the Dead festivities in Mexico City were held at museums that centered on Rivera and Kahlo, where the Linares family made three dimensional versions of Posada's prints out of papier mâché. Consequently, Posada, Rivera, and Kahlo were woven into foundational urban commemorations in Mexico City. Even without the Mesoamerican attributes Rivera provided to Catrina, she still functions as a national emblem associated specifically with Mexico."

Day of the Dead is an even more complex event. Some say the origins are from the Aztec's Lady of Death. Others say it's from the Catholic influence of All Saints and All Souls day from Europe and Spain. Still others say it became popular as Mexican politicians tried to instill Mexican nationalism in its people. An interesting note is that Day of the Dead parades were not that prevalent in major cities in Mexico until after a 2015 James Bond film Spectre included one. Mexico gave the movie $14,000,000 to film in Mexico to promote Mexico. The opening sequence was filmed in Zócalo and the Centro Histórico district in Mexico City. Due to the interest raised by Spectre and the government's desire to promote the pre-Hispanic Mexican culture, the federal and local authorities decided to organise an actual "Día de Muertos" parade through Paseo de la Reforma and Centro Histórico on 29 October 2016 which was attended by 250,000 people. Before they were mainly in smaller towns. Today many Mexican cities have these events to encourage tourism and local business. The Mexican Secretary of Tourism started promoting Dia de Muertos year round in 2016 in Mexico and abroad. They even hired a catrin dressed as a mariachi.

Whatever the case as Dia de los Muertos became more popular and commercialized in Mexico and the US catrinas also became more popular. Today we have catrinas of all types. There are classic traditional catrinas similar to the original who wear a fancy old style European dress and hat while wearing skull face makeup. Some catrinas feature an Aztec lady of death fashion and headdress. Still others are more modern glam interpretations of the catrina with large quinceanera dresses and flower crowns. There are even catrine (masculine) contests at most Dia de los Muertos events. These contests include catrines or male versions of the catrina. The male version can just be a dapper well dressed gentleman or a mariachi. The possibilities are endless today.

Below are some photos I took from some Dia de los Muertos events and catrina contests I've attended in Los Angeles, California the last couple of years. Catrinas, Dia de los Muertos is for everyone to honor and celebrate our dearly departed loved ones. I hope you attend a Dia de los Muertos event and enjoy the festivities! I'll soon be posting my most recent catrina look here. I posted an older one of mine below.

FYI my family is from Mexico. We observed All Soul's day and All Saint's day by going to mass at church. We also tended and cared for the graves of our family. We didn't dress up as catrinas growing up. I only got involved in Dia de los Muertos activities in the last 17 years here in Los Angeles, California where I live. I think my first event was Self-Help graphics in 2006 in East LA. 

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