Published on 2025/05/05
FROM LA CALAVERA GARBANCERA TO LA CATRINA

david
It all started as social satire. In the early 1900s, Mexican illustrator Jos� Guadalupe Posada sketched a skeleton wearing an elegant European-style hat�and nothing else. He called it La Calavera Garbancera, and the drawing was a jab at people of humble or indigenous background who rejected their roots and tried to pass as Europeanized elites. �Garbanceros� were those who sold chickpeas instead of traditional maize, pretending to belong to a class they didn�t. Posada captured that hypocrisy with a grin: no matter how fancy you dress, in the end, we all turn into skeletons.

For years, that�s all it was�sharp, black-and-white social commentary. But everything changed when Diego Rivera brought her back to life in one of his most iconic murals, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central. There, the skeleton appears fully dressed in a long gown, more refined, and surrounded by historical Mexican figures. That�s when she finally got the name everyone knows today: La Catrina.

From that moment on, she stopped being a symbol of mockery and became an icon of the Day of the Dead. Over time, her image took on color, flowers, makeup, and all the visual flair we now associate with her. Today, La Catrina is more than just a stylish skull�she�s a symbol of respect, humor, and pride in death as a part of life. She�s not scary, not grim. She�s art, tradition, and presence.

And even if she started as a critique, she�s evolved into something much bigger�a figure that represents not just death, but the way Mexico looks it in the eye, without fear� and with style.



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