Miguel Paredes is 50 years old and has been working at his craft of making art objects for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) for over 20 years. His folk art has been passed down through the generations from his grandfather to his father and now to him.

Miguel and his wife, Lilia, live in the state of Puebla, Mexico where he handcrafts calaveras de barro (clay skeletons), nichos (shadow boxes, dioramas), and all types of objects that have been made in Mexico for decades.

They are typical of the lighthearted satire that is classic in Mexican Day of the Dead art. The art is fun and festive and not meant to poke fun at the dead, but rather to honor them by giving them equal time through this art. Created clay, wood, and using bits and pieces of ribbon, pop-bottle tops, etc., they are all handmade and hand painted.

The Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, takes place over the November 1 and 2. Its origins are a mixture of Native American traditions and a set of Catholic holidays. While the holiday's observances include spending time in cemeteries, making shrines to the dead, and displaying artistic representations of skulls and skeletons, the occasion is festive, rather than morbid. Death isn't seen as the end of one's life, but as a natural part of the life cycle; the dead continue to exist much as they did in their lives, and come back to visit the living every year.

The names of two consecutive 20 months on the Aztec calendar, Miccailhuitomi and Miccailhuitl, can be translated as "Feast of the Little Dead Ones" and "Feast of the Adult Dead." Put together, they appear to have formed one long celebration of the dead, moving from those who died as children to those who died when they were older.

It is generally believed that the souls of one's family return home to join in the Day of the Dead festivities. First those who died in infancy come home, then the older children, and finally those who died once they'd reached adulthood. Families set up altars (or ofrendas) in their homes, festively decorated in bright colors and laden with the favorite foods of their dead. Typically, the altars contain photographs of the dead, representations of things they liked, and items representing the four elements: candles for fire, drinks for water, fruit for earth, and fluttering tissue-paper decorations for wind. The dead take in the essence of the food, which will later be eaten by the living.

In some areas, families go to the graveyard to celebrate through the night. They clean and decorate the graves, sometimes setting up ofrendas on the gravestones, as bells are rung.

The major feature of Day of the Dead decorations is skeletons, or calacas. Skeletons are everywhere, from tissue-paper scenes to tiny plastic toys, from cardboard puppets to ceramic sculptures, from posters to papier mache. These skeletons are usually cheerful, and they are designed to show the full range of activities and professions people perform. Farmers, barbers, secretaries, fire fighters - if somebody does it while alive, you can find an artistic rendering of a

Also common are skulls and skeletons made of sugar or candy. Some people get sugar skulls made to resemble themselves, or with their names inscribed on them.

While Day of the Dead and Halloween are both offshoots of All Saints' and All Souls' Days, their tones couldn't be more different. Halloween's images of skeletons and spirits emphasize the spooky, gruesome, and macabre. People shudder at the thought of scary spirits threatening the living world. On Día de los Muertos, the focus isn't on the gruesome, it's on celebrating with one's family—alive and dead—and remembering those who are no longer alive. It's on seeing death as another stage following life, not something to be faced with fear.

To view a story by Kathryn Leide of Chirpa, WI, USA, "The Most Beautiful House in Mexico" about Miguel click here.

Contact information:
Mercado de Artesanias El Parin L-36, 37 and 21
Puebla, Puebla
222 232 9092
liliapuebla@hotmail.com or huitzildan@hotmail.com

Or contact Marianne Carlson at (from the US) 01152 376 765 7485 or email marianne carlson@gmail.com.