‘Day of the Dead’ a time to reflect on life

I was born on the Day of the Dead. I didn’t know this until I was 18 or so, and afterward I had a Jose Posada calavera tattooed on my upper left arm; it has faded these past 20 years, but it is still vaguely recognizable as a skeleton in a serape and sandals, holding a bottle of tequila.

Here in the borderlands it’s difficult to find a boutique, gift shop, or gallery these days that doesn’t sell calavera (skeletons doing human things) statues, paintings, T-shirts, and all manner of other consumer goods featuring the Day of the Dead aesthetic.

Generally, these art objects re-create the work, or at least the spirit of the work, of Posada, a late 19th century-early 20th century Mexican print maker and illustrator whose broadsides and newspaper illustrations employed the calavera and Day of the Dead traditions in social commentary. While Posada’s work had the immediacy of journalism, it has outlasted its original intent and is more popular today than ever before. His style, and his overt political commentary, influenced the likes of Diego Rivera and other Mexican muralists of first half of the 20th century.

To see Posada’s famous broadsides in the original, as they were distributed on the streets of Mexico City, check out the University of New Mexico’s collection at: http://elibrary.unm.edu/cswr/posada/.

The Day of the Dead, El Dia de los Muertos, falls on Nov. 2, but the celebrations begin on Nov. 1 or even before that.

Very old tradition

It is roughly meant to coincide with the traditional Catholic holidays of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, but the tradition, most anthropologists believe, is far older than the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Indeed, it is, like most New World rites, a deep-time amalgam of Pre-Columbian and Spanish traditions whose origins reach far back into the mist.

At its heart, the holiday is an explicit admittance that death and the dead have a profound influence on life and the living, and that the two camps coexist side-by-side always. The details of the celebrations vary from region to region, from town to town, from the big city to the outer rural areas.

Generally, they include feasts, often laid out in graveyards with a dead relative’s favorite dishes prepared and set aside, parades and marches, candles and altars, sugar skulls, sweet breads shaped like skulls and skeletons, and, of course, calaveras galore.

For many years, the Day of the Dead has been marching north, so much so that it now rivals Cinco de Mayo as the Southwestern Anglo’s favorite Mexican import. The spectacles surrounding the holiday have always been a subject of fascination for tourists, especially those from the U.S.

As far back as the 1970s, Mexican observers were complaining that in places like Mixquic and Patzcuaro, towns famous for their Day of the Dead celebrations, “cameras had come to outnumber candles in the cemeteries.”

What would those observers think today if they came to the borderlands and saw the proliferation of consumer goods featuring the Day of the Dead aesthetic? I can’t say, but I for one am happy with this proliferation, to a degree.

To me, the Day of the Dead is not so much a holiday, but, like it is with many Mexicans, a year-round way of looking at the world. This way of looking at the world, for me, comes directly from Posada’s work.

The calavera, especially as it was presented by Posada, is a reminder that we are all mere skeletons; we are all the walking dead, and everything we do and say in this world will one day be forgotten. No matter how much money we have (and Posada’s frequent target, along with those in political power, was the rich), no matter how much power we have, we are all equally bones underneath, and we will soon enough be gone.

Death is not absent from your life until it comes for you. It is there walking beside you all the time, so you might as well give death its due, and a holiday, too.

If anyone ever asked me for advice on how to live their life (and no one ever does), I would have only this offer: Surround yourself with Posada calaveras; tattoo them on your skin. With all those skeletons around you mocking the living and their pretensions, you are much more likely to take life in stride, and to believe deeply, and truly, that this too shall pass.

Tim Hull is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News.

Events

Through Nov. 15, there will be a traditional Day of the Dead altar at Tolteca Tlacuilo in the Old Town Artisans complex (186 N. Meyer, 623-5787) from 9: 30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

On Saturday Nov. 1, the Tucson Museum of Art (140 N. Main Ave., 624-2333) will celebrate the ancient rite with a family event starting at 5 p.m. There will be the usual music, food, arts and crafts, an altar, and a parade and Big Head Puppets.