Think About Life, but Don’t Think to Much

Death has a different meaning for us mexicans than for some others. We actually mock about it and have jokes on how we are teasing death and how we cheat it.

This thinking comes from our ancient past, and even after the spaniard colonization it remained deep.

We do not render  cult to death, instead it is a reminder that we must live fully. In the meantime, artisans make skeletons  that represent all socioeconomic groups in the country, as death doesn’t make differences.

For any walks of life, they will meet. At any time. The woman skeletons are called “Catrina”

La Catrina or Calavera Garbancera (Chickpea Scull by José Guadalupe Posada).

Garbancera, is the name given to chickpea sellers, having indian blood, they pretended to be europeans, spanish or french, being the last one the must common due to the mexican ruler Porfirio Diaz, who stablished strong bonds with France in the 1900’s.

Garbanceras rejected their own origins, heritage and culture.

This is the mural “Dream on a Sunday Afternoon at the Alameda Central” by Diego Rivera, who painted himself as a kid left to La Catrina altogether with Frida Kahlo, his wife.

To the right of La Catrina, Jose Guadalupe Posada, the man who coined the name Catrina. Jose would picture La Catrina as a cloth-less skeleton, with only a french hat on its head remarking the mexicans that were poor and that wanted to have an european life style that didn’t corresponded with their reality.

 

 

People actually by these figures for their homes. Would you like to have Michael Jackson’s one?

We are taking orders!

Catrinas of all styles: fancy, indigenous, couples….