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Day of the Dead Painted Skull
This is something that is indspensible for a really nice Day of the Dead altar. I doubt very seriously if you are going to find anything like this anywhere else - not this big and not this nice - if you find it at all! This is carefully and painstakingly crafted from acrylic resin and powdered bone and then hand painted with traditional Mexican designs.
These skulls have various other significances, as do skulls in general. In Mexican ideology which supports both the Day of the Dead and its surrounding concepts, and also in the sort of Catholic based magical and "shamanistic" practices known as curanderismo and brujeria, which are heavily infused with elements of prehispanic, mesoamerican Indian religion, skulls represent the souls of the dead. This tradition was central to many Aztec and Maya concepts, but it was also a big part of Catholic traditions, and these traditions were inherited from many earlier pagan cultures. Thus, for instance, in the popular renditions of many saints wherein they are shown having skulls on their desks, many believers in magic will assume that they communicated with the spirits of the persons whose skulls those were. In the case of practitioners of many of these magical arts in Mexico today, they will use a representation of a skull in place of a real one as a place where the spirit of a dead sould who helps them in their spiritual and magical endeavors can "dwell", and be the focus of their candles, their incense, and other offerings that they give them. So, I would say that in the case of persons who wish to take up these practices themselves, a skull like this is a good instrument to use in this sense.
Day of Dead art, specifically the use of calaveras as a way of burlesquing persons and institutions which were normally protected by censorship laws is a tradition that goes back very far, with both roots in the European and Indian traditions of Mexico. The Indian roots are mostly with the dual nature deities, whose “death side” was indicated by skeletal figures - the most famous survivor of that tradition is “La Santisima Muerte”. She is rooted in the cult of an Indian goddess whom the Aztecs called Mictlancihuatl - the name means “Lady of Death”. The
European roots go back to the danse macabre and to the work of Hans Holbien the Younger - of whom the great Mexican illustrator Guadalupe Posada might be said to have carried on his traditions and brought them back to life. Posada was “rediscovered” by Diego Rivera, who promoted Posada in order to attach his own shining star to the calavera artist’s legend. His fascination with Posada was culminated with the completion of the mural, “Dream on a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park” has a rendition
of the Catrina - Posada’s most famous calavera - in the middle of the scene, and even has a portrait of Posada there. Posada’s interest in this subject, however, was probably brought about through the influence of the German Jewish exiled art critic Paul Westheim, who is the man who is really behind all of this interest in the Day of the Dead and in Posada. His book “La Calavera” is the most important book every written on the subject, in my opinion, and it pretty much sums up what Diego was originally exposed to when he was first enlighted on the the importance of Day of the Dead art in Mexico. This particular work of Posada can, more than any other, be said to carry on the tradition of the Danse Macabre.
$18.00 dollars plus $8.00 shipping and handling
************ This is close to life size - it is BIG! And it is GORGEOUS!!
From Fausto's Art Gallery in Ojinaga, Chihuahua.
(Shipped from Presidio, Texas)
