The bubonic plague (Black
Death) devastated Europe resulting in demographic and economic disasters
inciting a collective fear of dying. Death became the great equalizer despite social and economic position. This
terror reached the Spanish colonies creating several cultural developments. The
Danse Macabre, death in art, religious relics, and the iconic use of calaveras (skulls) were some. In Mexico, the Danse Macabre
was represented as La Loca de la Muerte y los Vanidosos still practiced today in Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas.
European woodcuts and murals in new churches depicted death as all-victorious
and powerful.
By
the 1700s Death, personified as a woman, was central in Holy Week, paraded on
Good Fridays on a decorated berth through cities and towns of New Spain. For funerals of royalty or important
members of the church, Death appeared as La Portentosa or La Reina Muerte seated on an elaborate catafalque proving her fatal power over all. By the mid-18th
century people realized that death was a result of disease, malnutrition and
old age – not a punishment from God. However, starting in the late 19th
century, José Guadalupe Posada, master Mexican printer and lithographer,
reanimated Portentosa. His calaveras became classic worldwide images tied to Mexican
traditions of Día de los Muertos.
Posada’s calaveras are a social
commentary, political satire and assertions of the egalitarian principles that
Mexicans attribute to death itself.
His calaveras marked the
path for present Día de los Muertos
skulls and skeletons with grins, cocky attitudes, and ability to portray human
activities. They reflect the Mexican
understanding of Death in a satirical and humorous way without angst, fear or
judgment.
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