La Catrina: Icon of Death

La Poderosa Calavera Garbancera🌹💀🌹 known today as 𝐋𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚.⠀ ⠀ 𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬:⠀ The image of 𝐋𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚 was first created by Jose Guadalupe Posada during the Mexican Revolution between 1910 and 1913. Inspired by Mictecacihuatl, the Aztec goddess of death and keeper of bones in the underworld Posada came up with La Calavera Garbancera. 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⠀ Originally La Calavera was created to mock “Garbanceras” or Mexicans with indigenous blood who made an attempt to disguise their heritage in an effort to pass for Europeans. ⠀⠀ The skeletal resemblance and whiteness of La Calavera 💀 represents those wearing pale makeup to whiten their skin. Lastly the hat was added and created to resemble French fashion of the time.⠀ ⠀ 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐠𝐨 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚:⠀ In 1946 famous Mexican Painter, Diego Rivera completed the image of La Calavera Garbancera. First by changing her name to 𝐋𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚 then by giving her image a full body, and painting her in elegant clothing in “Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central” (image above) at the now Museo Mural Diego Rivera. 𝐇𝐨𝐲:⠀ 𝐋𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚 is the iconic modern 🇲🇽 image of death and speaks to the conflict between the rich and poor and the fact that in the end we are all equal. 💀