{"id":51443,"date":"2015-10-21T14:39:59","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T18:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nybg.org\/plant-talk\/?p=51443"},"modified":"2015-10-21T14:39:59","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T18:39:59","slug":"la-catrina-grande-dame-of-dia-de-los-muertos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/2015\/10\/history\/la-catrina-grande-dame-of-dia-de-los-muertos\/","title":{"rendered":"La Catrina: Grande Dame of D\u00eda de los Muertos"},"content":{"rendered":"

In celebration of D\u00eda de los Muertos<\/a>, or Day of the Dead, on the weekends of October 24 & 25 and October 31 & November 1, Bronx-based artist Lucrecia Novoa and the Mascaraviva puppeteers parade her giant skeleton and La Catrina puppets throughout the Garden. Inspired by both the traditional and modern representations of the skeletal character, Lucrecia\u2019s puppets\u2014made especially for this occasion\u2014provide the perfect photo opportunity and interactive experience. Catch them wandering throughout the Garden from 12 to 4 p.m.!<\/p>\n

But who is La Catrina? The referential image of death in Mexico, it is common to see La Catrina featured in D\u00eda de los Muertos celebrations, where death is treated with familiarity and hospitality instead of dread.<\/p>\n

La Catrina was originally drawn as a satirical cartoon (1910\u20131913) by famous Mexican printmaker and illustrator Jose Guadalupe Posada. The etching was intended to make fun of Mexican elite who were adopting European fashion and attitudes. Named \u201cLa Calavera Garbancera<\/em>,\u201d the image was meant to represent the large gap between social classes, and was inspired by Mictecacihuatl, the Aztec goddess of death and Lady of Mictlan, the underworld.<\/p>\n

Here is an image of Posado\u2019s La Calavera Oaxaque\u00f1a, <\/em>which is similar in style to the Catrina:<\/p>\n\"La<\/a>\n

Here is a sneak peak at Lucrecia\u2019s interpretation of Catrina:<\/p>\n\"Lucrecia<\/a>\n

Posada\u2019s creation might have given La Catrina her form, but it was Diego Rivera, muralist, and husband of Frida Kahlo, who named her. Diego\u2019s mural, \u201cSue\u00f1o de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Centra (Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central)<\/em>\u201d (1946\u20131948), features an image of Catrina right in the middle of the artwork, next to Frida. Because of Diego\u2019s popularity, La Catrina rose to fame, and is a now iconic representation of the Mexican willingness to embrace death- and to even laugh at it. After all, there is something a bit humorous, if also a tad creepy, about a skeleton dressed in opulent fashion. Images and more information on the mural can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We do hope you will come out to celebrate the lives of loved deceased ones, especially Frida Kahlo, as we prepare to say goodbye to the exhibition on November 1!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In celebration of D\u00eda de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, on the weekends of October 2 & 25 and October 31 & November 1, Bronx-based artist Lucrecia Novoa parades her giant skeleton and La Catrina puppets throughout the Garden. But who is La Catrina?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88868,"featured_media":51472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1170],"tags":[4743,4489,4751,4750,4529,4302],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/DdlM-skulls-lucrecia-1200x800.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ph0lU-dnJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88868"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51443"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51478,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51443\/revisions\/51478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}