In Mexican folk culture, the Catarina, popularized by José Guadalupe Posada, is the skeleton of a high society woman and one of the most popular figures of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico.
© Tomas Castelazo, http://www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0
The Day of the Dead is celebrated by many cultures and nations by giving offerings and praying. In Mexico on “Dia de los Muertos” people go to cemeteries to be with their deceased relatives and build private altars with foods and beverages, and perhaps place photos and memorabilia of the departed. In Guatemala people celebrate the Day of the Dead with making and flying giant kites. In Spain the tradition is to adorn the graves of their dead relatives with flowers, and in Germany people put candles on the graves.
How cultures from other regions of the world maintain relations with the dead can be researched in eHRAF World Cultures using the HRAF specific subject “Cult of the Dead” (OCM 769). The OCM subjects, based on the Outline of Cultural Materials, can be found in the “ADD Subjects” menu of the Advanced Search at http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu. If prompted for a login, contact HRAF at hraf@yale.edu for a temporary username and password.
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