As you walk through the myriad hued streets of Mexico city,
she stares at you from every nook and corner. She’ll grin at you, mock you,
scold you, seduce you, and just sometimes, put you right back in your place.
And if you haven’t yet guessed who we are talking about, it is the
quintessential Mexican “doll” Catrina!
While first timers in Mexico get shocked by the extravagant glamour
around a tall, lanky skeleton, it is very quickly revealed to them that Catrina
is really a cultural icon.
The origins of La Catrina lies in La Calavera Catrina,
an early 1900s sketch by Mexican illustrator Posada.
She was a satirical
representation of Mexicans who according to Posada were trying hard to emulate
the European aristocracy. Posada, with his keen artist’s eye tried to represent
the hollowness of a society enamored by the Euporeans.
Mexican muralist Diego
Riviera brought further fame (and the name) to Catrina by depicting her in one
of his most famous murals Sueño de una
tarde dominical en la Alameda Central.
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| Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central (Source) |
And slowly but surely, Catrina permeated through Mexican art
and culture and is now a mascot of sorts for the Day of the Death. An amazing ability of an amazing race to add humor to death!Today La Catrina is everywhere… drawn or sculpted into
wood carvings, made into papier-mâché sculptures, majolica pottery, and black clay.
So on
your next trip to Mexico forget not to bring the lanky Lady Catrina back! We had fancied this ultra-glamorous Lady C. in red at a little Catrina store in Mexico City. When we went back the next day, the store was closed. Our hearth was set on her, and no other Lady could claim the heart again. But we keep hoping...another time, another place, another look...another Lady C. maybe?
