Blog #7 La Catrina

     I don't know about the rest of you, but in my Spanish classes in high school we always had a fiesta to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and The Day of the Dead. In reality, I think these were just used as an excuse by my teachers to have a fiesta and let us students have some fun. But still, over the four years I did learn a little. In the mural Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central  by Diego Rivera that we have been studying, La Catrina is right in the center so I'm pretty sure she's important.

    La Catrina started out as a political cartoon by Jose Guadalupe Posada in a newspaper around 1910. It is no coincidence that La Catrina appeared just as the Mexican Revolution was starting. Posada helped the illiterate people of Mexico to understand the problems with the Porfilian regime. La Catrina originally represented Mexicans that tried to pass themselves off as Europeans, and abandoned Mexican traditions.
    La Catrina was not an original idea by Posada though, she has deeper roots. She was based upon the Aztec Mictecacihuatl, goddess of death and Lady of Mictlan, the underworld. La Catrina came to represent the Day of the Dead. Other countries do not look as death the way that we do. In Mexico death is a time to celebrate. During the Day of the Dead, people go visit the grave sites of their loved ones that have passed away. Some hold the traditional belief that the dead return to earth this day and give council to the living. People bring candles, flowers, and favorite foods of the deceased and leave them at the grave. Then the family gets together and eats and tells favorite stories about the person who has died. It is a celebration for the family, where they celebrate the life of their loved one. Mexicans keep death close, treating it with familiarity instead of dread. La Catrina embodies this philosophy, that death should be celebrated because it is just another stage of life.