Las Calacas: Día de los Muertos Smiling Skull

Día de Los Muertos, Day of the Dead, is an ancient and significant holiday celebrated throughout Mexico, parts of Latin America, and the American Southwest. It is a day when families pay homage to and celebrate the lives of their ancestors through prayers, offerings of food, and the building of altars. Traditions vary from region to region. In the town of Acatlán in the state of Puebla, performers dressed as jaguars dance at the entrance to cemeteries. Calaca (skull) imagery is used by masked dancers in Arizona and their ritualistic procession called La Mascarada.

“Beginning well before the Spanish arrived, indigenous people recognized a strong connection between life and death and the rhythms and cycles of nature. Death meant only the passing from one world into another and was venerated as a major force of nature.” - Zarco Guerrero

Many community celebrations include a procession of dancers in masks with skull imagery called Calacas [kah-lah-kahs]. They dance in honor of their deceased relatives. Giant puppets are also used in Día de los Muertos activities. They attract death’s attention by being big and omnipresent, like death itself.

“Traditionally, the smiling skull is a symbol of rebirth. Scenes of skeletons in amusing attire symbolize revitalization and transformation, not death. The skeleton is like a seed whose hard shell a new life is born. The idea of death is to be accepted without fear and often has comical connotations.” - Zarco Guerrero

These calaca masks are part of the Mask Alive Art Collection Performance Masks Education Collection. They were created by sculpting plaster bandage paper clay onto individual adult and youth ballet folkórico dancers. The artist then adds layers of clay to sculpt a variety of features, and uses acrylic paint to hand paint the designs.

Cultural Coalition has partnered with various ballet folklórico troupes for decades, educating the public and keeping Mexican traditions alive within the community, presenting unique masked folklórico performances at the annual MIKIZTLI: Día de los Muertos Festival.

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