What are "calaveritas literarias"?

What are "calaveritas literarias"?

Mexico is a country rich in colorful and diverse traditions. Arguably the most interesting one, is the “day of the death”. In this date mexicans usually write “calaveritas literarias” which are a type of rime or even a poem intended to show the death as a joke, through the use of rhetoric, humor, metaphors and any literature recourse.  The “Calaverita” is a mean to play with the fear that the death induce in all of us as well a a funny way to introduce and talk about a variety of topics and people in a very unique and personal way. It is worth to mention that this tradition can be track as far as the famous “La portentosa vida de la muerte”  by Joaquín Bolaños in 1792.

It’s a beatiful element that give meaning to that day.

Image from J. Bolaños,1792,  "La portentosa vida de la muerte".

Día de muertos

Mexico is a country full of traditions which are characteristic and have formed its identity representing Mexico's culture. One of the most antique and important traditions is "Day of the Dead", this celebration it's every year the first two days of November. Nowadays "Day of the Dead" it's a festivity or celebration where the "living" meet the dead, people usually offer a colorful banquet, full of smells and tastes, and sometimes music making an altar with "cempasúchil" flowers, candles to light up the souls to be remembered, chopped paper for decoration, photographs, toys or any memory that brings the living with the dead, and many other offerings to light their path from the grave to the altar and join us.
This tradition started with the Aztecs which thought that every person in the moment they died, traveled on a painful and long journey to arrive at the "Mictlan" the region of dead and enjoy their rest. Tradition also symbolizes the presence of our loved ones which transcended to eternity, so Day of the Dead is a celebration of memory and a ritual to celebrate the people once we loved  and were present, but they are no longer with us in the earthly plane. This beliefs about death that have been passed by generations gives us the comfort of the good death and that some day we will return to an altar and never be forgotten.

As we like this tradition in our lab we didn't want to stay behind and leave the tradition to commemorate the day, so we decided to make our own altar for the people we don't want to forget