Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
It’s about this time each year that I lament the creeping encroachment of America’s shallowly commercial Halloween tradition upon Mexico’s deeply spiritual Dia de Los Muertos observance.
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
In the States, trick-or-treat decorations may have been replaced by Christmas decorations and candy now relegated to discount bins, but a month-long event in Guadalajara’s Centro Historico proves that Dia de los Muertos is not only alive and well, but ably adapting to fit itself into the twenty-first century.
Peace catrinas, Guadalajara, Mexico
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
For the third consecutive year, Guadalajara’s secondary school students have built upon the traditional image of the catrina – the elaborately decorated skeletons that are the holiday’s trademark – to make a timely plea for peace.
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
Around 100 of these larger-than-life-sized installations can be seen on the plazas that mark each of the primary compass points around Guadalajara’s signature downtown Catedral.
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
The work is remarkable not only because it ably links Mexico’s past with its present and because the artisanship is of such high quality, but because it demonstrates these young artists’ surprisingly mature grasp of how violence begins and spreads through a culture.
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
For Mexicans, peace is not an abstract ideal or a wished-for outcome in some far-off country, but a heartfelt hope for change in their everyday existence.
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
In this fifth year of the government’s war on narcotics traffic and narco-terrorism, fatalities have now passed the 50,000 mark. While the violence is largely confined to combatants and limited to a small part of the country, only a few degrees of separation lie between the casualties and an increasing number of civilians.
The theme of peace in the face of such violence necessarily lends a somber note to many of these works, but most of them still manage to deliver their weighty message with the same wry fatalism that has always marked the catrina tradition.
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
Photos don’t do these catrinas justice. Almost all of the standing figures tower over the spectator by a foot or two, and many others lean lifelike against poles and fences or sit on park benches as city pedestrians and traffic stream past.
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
There are several Gandhi catrinas and one of the Dalai Lama, but it’s the more traditional images which are often the most compelling.
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
While catrinas are an expression of pre-Colombian concepts of the relationship between life and death, the catrina image itself is barely a century old, the invention of a Mexico City newspaper’s political cartoonist.
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
The catrina was nearly relegated to history until rescued by the resurgence of pride in Mexican heritage following the Mexican Revolution.
Peace catrina, Guadalajara, Mexico
Like Argentina’s tango, it began as a working-class tradition and grew in less than a generation to become a symbol inextricably woven into the national identity.
It’s possible to walk all 100 or so of Guadalajara’s Catrinas de la Paz in less than an hour, but you may – like me – become caught up in reflection upon one or another that particularly speaks to you and linger longer.
Whether you browse this exhibit quickly or deliberately, don’t pass it up!
Antonio Ramblés travels 
Hi Tony,
I always enjoy your writing, and like your post below.
But also want to share an additional perspective. Peace and working toward peace are admirable goals and activities and I support and endorse these activities; however, I do not encourage the involvement or inclusion in these activities. Most of the wars going on in the world at this moment MidEast, Africa and parts of Asia – Indonesia in particular) have strong religious overtones. The killing of the U.S. Ambassador in Libya was partially fueled by religious outrage.
American politics gets distorted, and perverted, by far-right religious fanatics that encourage the denial of rights to women, gays, Hispanics / Mexicans / Asians and anybody that doesn’t look and behave like a WASP.
Bemoan the secular nature of Halloween in the U.S? No. Hell no! Hope secularism spreads. The world’s greatest hope for peace is the decline of religious fanaticism and the separation of religion from politics. People can worship whatever God they wish, but don’t bring it to the public arena. Let reason prevail and let’s give Peace a real chance.
Jerry 11-11-12
I appreciate your perspective, Jerry, and agree with much of what you’ve written. My point, however, was not to advocate religious fanaticism, but to point out that the replacement of foreign culture by American popular culture is not always a turn for the better. In that same vein it’s also worth noting that the U.S. taxpayers support the Mexican government’s efforts to battle the narcos… who are armed with weapons easily purchased in the U.S. (thanks to the NRA)… with the proceeds of sales to American drug users. It’s hypocritical of Americans to portray this as a Mexican problem.
Couldn’t agree more, Antonio. And I didn’t take this as a plea for preserving religion at all, BTW. Only for the sadness of an ancient tradition being somehow cheapened by our good ol’ commercial influence. 😉
Oh, which isn’t to say I don’t also agree we need fewer religions fanatics in our world, whether they be in the U.S. or abroad. (Our own religious right is pretty scary.) But I would also say that if we might as a nation continue to change our approach to the world (i.e. working more toward equity, toward everyone having enough food and good shelter and health care, and hell—drinking water) that our world might produce fewer fanatics willing to resort to violence.