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For one night in November every year, the spirits of the departed return to the earthly plane and reunite with their loved ones. We’re talking about the Día de muertos, or Day of the Dead, celebrated on November 2 in Mexico and Central America. A night of celebration and an act of remembrance, this World Heritage cultural event is anticipated and prepared with great joy – a rare and brief time when the dead are honoured and welcomed home. 

The cornerstone of this celebration is the ofrenda ('offering'). It is a temporary structure in the home where the deceased will be recevied during the reunion on el Día de muertos. Unlike an altar, which implies a sacrifice, an ofrenda is a gift, a demonstration of hospitality, and each element is carefully selected to help the spirit find their way home and to welcome them when they arrive.

The Day of the Dead is often cited as being an amalgam of ancient Mesoamerican rites to honour and celebrate the dead and the Roman Catholic rituals of All Saints' Day and All Souls’ Day. Some consider the Day of the Dead to be an example of cultural syncretism, but there is some debate about this. Many Mexican academics attribute its origins solely to Medieval European Catholicism and tradition, in part due to strikingly similar rituals practised on the same day in Catholic countries all over the world – altars for the dead, bread in the shape of bones and visiting cemteries on All Souls’ Day to pray and decorate tombs with flowers, candles, incense and garlands. Interestingly, the Day of the Dead has been used by Mexican politicians, artists and activists in the 20th century as a way to connect with Indigenous roots and traditions, and move away from the colonial rule of the past by emphasising Indigenous Mexican elements of the celebration.

One iconic symbol of el Día de muertos today is that of the skeleton woman dressed in clothing. The origins and transformation of this iconic symbol offer a fascinating illustration of the way the tradition has changed from within the Mexican community.

José Guadalupe Posada was a Mexican printmaker and lithograher in the late 19th- and early 20th-century who made satirical illustrations for broadsheet newspapers criticizing the wealthy elite and conservative governments of his day. Relativley unknown at the time of his death in 1913, his contributions to art would eventually be nationally recognised. His prints and cartoons often used the device of clothed skeletons and were a crucial part of transmitting the message of the paper at a time when most of the population of Mexico City was illiterate. One such illustration was of a woman wearing a large European style feathered hat that he called 'La Calavera Garbancera'. Garbancera was a term used to describe Mexicans who wanted to move away from their Indigenous roots an towards a more European culture and way of life.

Posada’s ‘Calavera Garbancera’ was depicted in 1947 by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera in his fresco Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central ('Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park'), which features over 100 historical figures from 400 years of Mexican history taking a stroll together. Renamed by Rivera as 'La Calavera Catrina', she appears, full length, as the central figure of this enormous work, holding the hand of a young Rivera and the arm of Posada, her creator. Rivera kept the large, feathered hat but clothed the figure in a simple Tehuana skirt, much like what his wife Frida Kahlo wore. Around her neck he painted a feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec god. This mural project was funded by the Mexican government soon after the Mexican revolution (1910-1920) as a way to educate and incorporate Indigenous Mexican cultures into a broader national identity. Posada’s original lithograph was designed to satirise Mexican women who rejected their own national identity, and then later Rivera redressed and rebirthed her as a Mexican national symbol. La Catrina is now an iconic symbol intrinsically linked to the Día de muertos. 

Regardless of origin, it is a widely celebrated holiday today, both in Mexico and Central America, as well as in many diaspora communities throughout the United States and the rest of the world – including Australia! It has also attracted more and more international attention, in 2008 being inscribed on the Representative List of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The possibility of connecting, however briefly, with those we have lost and long for has made it a source of fascination and intrigue, particularly for those of us from cultures where death is thought of as a somber and final affair. 

There are some amazing Day of the Dead events happening right here in Melbourne, so if you’d like to learn more and immerse yourself in this tradition you can! 

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