CALACATHE THREE DEATHS

according to a known mexican legend tradition, people die three deaths. The first death is when the bodies cease to function; when the hearts no longer beat of their own accord, when the gaze no longer has depth or weight, when the space we occupy slowly loses its meaning.

The second death comes when the body is lowered into the ground, returned to mother earth, out of sight.

The third death, the most definitive death, is when there is no one left alive to remember us.Th

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CONTENTS7

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First Death

Second Death

Third Death

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FIRST DEATH

MUERTE

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HAY MS TIEMPO QUE VIDA!

There is more time than life.

popular saying

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More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish Conquis-tadores landed in what is now central Mexico, they encountered native people practicing an ancient ritual that seemed to mock death. It was a ritual the indigenous people had been practicing at least 3,000 years. A ritual that the Spaniards would try unsuccessfully to eradicate. A ritual known today as Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

El Dia de los Muertos is celebrated in Mexico and certain parts of the United States and Central America.

Although the ritual has since been merged with Catholic theology, it still maintains the basic principles of the Aztec ritual, such as the use of skulls and skeletons.

Today, people don wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. Calacas are also placed on altars that are dedicated to the dead. In addition, sweet sugar skulls, made with the dead persons name written on the forehead, are eaten by a relative or friend.

The Aztecs along with other Mesoamerican civilizations kept skulls as trophies and displayed them during the ritual. The skulls were used to symbolize death as well as rebirth.

The skulls were used to honor the dead, whom the Aztecs and Mesoamerican civilizations believed came back for visitation during the monthlong ritual.

Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, native people viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake.

The pre-Hispanic people honored duality as being dynamic. Natives did not separate death from pain, or wealth from poverty, like they did in Western cultures.

although the day of the dead in mexico has a public aspect, at the community level it is essentially a private or family feast. the core of the celebration is within the family home.

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in rural mexico, people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried. they decorate grave sites with marigold flowers and candles. they bring toys for dead children and bottles of tequila to adults.

However, the Spaniards considered the ritual to be sacrilegious. They perceived the indigenous people to be barbaric and pagan.

In their attempts to convert natives to Catholicism, the Spaniards tried to kill the ritual; but like the old Aztec spirits, the ritual refused to die away.

To make the ritual more Christian, the Spaniards moved it so it coincided with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (Nov. 1 and 2), which is when it is celebrated in todays calendar.

Previously it fell on the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar, approximately the beginning of August, and was celebrated for the entire month. The festivities were presided over by the Aztec goddess Mictecacihuatl. The goddess, known as Lady of the Dead, was believed to have died at birth.

Day of the dead celebrations are different depending on their geographical location. In rural Mexico, people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried. They decorate grave sites with beautiful marigold flowers and candles. They bring toys for dead children and bottles of tequila to adults. They sit on picnic blankets next to grave sites and eat the favorite food of their loved ones.

In Mesa, the ritual has been evolving to include other cultures, such as Native and African Americans doing their own dances. It is also their opportunity to honor their dead.

In the United States as well as in Mexico's larger cities, families build altars in their homes, dedicating them to the dead. They surround these altars with flowers, food, and pictures of the deceased, and they light candles and place them next to the altar.

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The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to a preColumbian past. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors had been observed by these civilizations perhaps for as long as 2,5003,000 years. In the preHispanic era skulls were commonly kept as trophies and displayed during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.

The festival that became the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month. The festivities were dedicated to the goddess known as the Lady of the Dead, correspond-ing to the modern Catrina.

In most regions of Mexico, the 1st of Novem-ber is to honor children and infants, whereas deceased adults are honored on November 2nd. This is indicated by generally referring to November 1st mainly as Da de los Inocen-tes (Day of the Innocents) but also as Da de los Angelitos (Day of the Little Angels) and November 2nd as Da de los Muertos or Da de los Difuntos (Day of the Dead).

DEATH DOES NOT

MEAN THE END OF ONES LIFE BUT RATHER

THROUGH DEATH,

NEW LIFE IS CREATED.

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SECONDDEATH

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AL VIVO TODO LE FALTA

Y AL MUERTO TODO LE SOBRA.

The ones alive need everything, the dead ones need nothing.

popular saying

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Tracing their origins from Aztec imagery, calacas are frequently presented with marigold flowers and foliage. As with other aspects of the Day of the Dead festival, calacas are generally depict-ed as joyous rather than mournful figures.

Calacas are often shown wearing festive clothing, dancing, and joyfully playing bright musical instruments to indicate a happy afterlife. This draws on the Mexican belief that no dead soul likes to be thought of sadly, and that death should always be a joyous occasion.

LA CALACAA calaca, a known colloquial Mexican Spanish name for skeleton, is a figure of a skull or skeleton (usually human) commonly used for decora-tion during the Mexican Day of the Dead festival, although they are made all year round.

MEXICANA

Calacas used in the festival are carved skull masks worn by revelers; small figures made out of carved wood or fired clay. They also have sweet treats in the form of skulls or skeletons. Calacas can be made out of wood, stone, paper, or even candy.

A popular phrase used among Mexicans, Latinos, and various people that celebrate the day of the dead, after someone has died, is: Se lo (la) llev la calaca, literally meaning the calaca (death) took him or her.

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MUERTE:POR QU A M

TODOS ME ODIAN Y A TI TODOS

TE AMAN?Death:Why does everybody hate me but everybody loves you?

VIDA:PORQUE YO SOY UNA BELLA MENTIRA Y T UNA TRISTE REALIDAD.Life: Because you are the sad reality, and I am the beautiful lie!

popular saying

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The welcoming of the spirits back is seen in the home with the creation of an ofrenda (altar or literally an offering). On the ofrenda, many significant objects are placed as gifts to the deceased loved ones. Of these many objects, the altar holds four important elements: water, wind, fire, and earth.

LA O

FREN

DA

Water is given to quench the spirits thirst from their long journey and is usually put in a clay pitcher or a glass. Fire is signified by the candles and wind is signified by papel picado (punched paper). The earth element is represented by food, usually pan de muerto (bread of the dead).

Other food and drinks are left on the altar like mole (sauce with many spices and herbs), fruit, chocolate, atole (corn based drink), and whatever the deceased person liked. Copal incense is commonly seen on the ofrendas. Copal was used in ancient rituals to transmit praises and prayers.

For deceased children, toys and calaveritas de azcar (sugar skulls) are also placed on the altar. In addition, flowers placed on the altar as well as pictures of the deceased and religious items. These offerings ensure that the dead will have everything they need for their journey back.

flowers are exceptionally important on this day. the tradi-tional flower, the cempasuchil (yellow marigold) was widely used by the pre-columbian people on grave sites and is still offered today as the flower of the dead. babys breath, coxcombs, white amaryllis and wild purple orchids called flowers of the souls are also prevalent on altars.

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THIRD DEATH

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AL DIABLO LA MUERTE,

MIENTRAS LA VIDA

NOS DURE. To hell with death, while we are still very much alive.

popular saying

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Cuando un amigo se va queda un espacio vaco

que no lo puede llenar la llegada de otro amigo.

Cuando un amigo se va queda un tizn encendido

que no se puede apagar ni con las aguas de un ro.

Cuando un amigo se va una estrella se ha perdido

la que ilumina el lugar donde hay un nio dormido.

Cuando un amigo se va se detienen los caminos

y se empieza a revelar el duende manso del vino.

Cuando un amigo se va queda un terreno baldo

que quiere el tiempo llenar con las piedras del hasto.

Cuando un amigo se va se queda un rbol cado

que ya no vuelve a brotar porque el viento lo ha vencido.

Cuando un amigo se va queda un espacio vaco

que no lo puede llenar la llegada de otro amigo.

When a friend is gonethere is an empty spacethat it cannot be filledwith another friend.

When a friend is gonethere is a burning coal leftthat cannot be put outnot with the waters of a river.

When a friend is gonea star is lost foreverthe one illuminating the placewhere a child is sleeping.

When a friend is goneall paths come to a closeand you begin to revelwith the wine gods.

When a friend is gonethere is an empty land that time wants fill with stones of boredoom.

When a friend is gonethere is a fallen treethat will never bloom againbecause the wind has beat it.

When a friend is gonethere is an empty spacethat cannot be filledwith another friend.

alberto crtezPoet

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32 La Calavera Catrina (translated as Dapper Skeleton or Elegant Skull) is a 1910 1913 zinc etching by famous Mexican printmaker, cartoon illustrator and lithographer Jos Guadalupe Posada. The image depicts a female skeleton dressed only in a hat befitting the upper class outfit of a European of her time. She is offered as a satirical portrait of those Mexican natives who, Posada felt, were aspiring to adopt high European aristocratic traditions during the pre-revolutionary era. La Calavera Catrina has become an icon of the Mexican Da de Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

it was through jos guadalupe posadas art that the catrina (later the calaca) was born.

LA CALAVERA CATRINALa Catrina has become the referential image of Death in Mexico, and it is common to see her embodied as part of the celebrations of Day of the Dead throughout the country. She has become a motive for the creation of handcrafts made from clay or many other materials. La Catrina can also be found coupled with male skeletons.

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IT IS NOT TRUE, IT IS NOT TRUETHAT WE COME

TO LIVE HEREWE CAME

ONLY TO SLEEP, ONLY TO DREAM.

nahua people saying

According to the beliefs of the Nahua people (Aztecas, Chichimecas, Tlaxcaltecas, and Toltecas) life was seen as a dream. Only in dying did a human being truly awake.

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Bibliographylatino.si.edu/dayofthedead/archive.azcentral.com/ent/dead/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Calavera_Catrinalearnnc.org/lp/editions/chngmexico/210

Photo Credits ColophonBOOK & COVER DESIGNFlora Cruells Benzal

PRINTING & BINDINGFlora Cruells Benzal

TYPEFACESCortezHelvetica Neue

PAPERRed River

COURSEType 2Academy of Art UniversitySpring 2014

INSTRUCTORDavid Hake

Copyright Flora Cruells Benzal

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CALACATHE THREE DEATHS

Calaca BookCalaca Insert Booklet