RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 11.04.25 REGINA MOYA’S LA CATRINA SCULPTURES

The Mexican/U.S. Latino holiday known as Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead [November 1 & 2], was celebrated in many cities across the U.S. In San Antonio, Texas, the Pearl District commissioned local artist Regina Moya this year to create La Catrina sculptures and a Tzompantli art installation. The Pearl is a bustling cultural and culinary destination with inventive restaurants, unique boutiques, lively markets, the highly acclaimed Hotel Emma, and plenty of green spaces along the San Antonio River.

Moya’s artistic rendering of thirty hand-painted skulls displayed at the Pearl highlights traditional Mexican iconography. The wall of ceramic skulls is a wooden rack similar to skull rocks documented in several Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Zapotec, Toltec, Maya, and the Aztec. These ceramic racks, Moya tells us, were used for the public display of human skulls, typically those of war captives or other sacrificial victims. Her artistic display is inspired by a Tzompantli discovered in 2015 under Mexico City’s Templo Mayor and is made in the beautiful craft style of the Talavera pottery of Puebla, Mexico, and is absolutely luminous.

At the Pearl exhibit, Moya posted an explanation of the importance of Mexican ceramic art pieces, or Talavera pottery, which she described as having roots in the 8th-century town of Talavera de la Reina in Spain. The pottery made in Talavera de la Reina was influenced by the Moors from Northern Africa. Over the next three centuries, the Spanish potters added beautiful glazes and intricate designs over a creamy background. Moya explains that in later centuries, the pottery was also influenced by Chinese and Italian ceramic artists. During the colonial period, Mexico imported Spanish craftsmen to train Mexican indigenous potters, giving birth to the famous Talavera Poblana.

Moya’s four vibrant Catrina sculptures made of papier-mache represent cultural tributes as part of the Día de los Muertos celebrations held at the Pearl. The artist masterfully incorporates bright colors and mixed media techniques, a creative style heavily influenced by her Mexican roots. She has also designed large-scale butterflies for Day of the Dead festivals, aligning her work with seasonal cycles and themes of migration.

The Day of the Dead celebration of the lives of the deceased is believed to have Aztec origins dating back to the 14th century, possibly even earlier. The Aztec queen Mictecacihuatl ruled over the underworld and served as a protector of the dead. Annually, Mictecacihuatl was believed to return to gravesites to ensure that the bones of the deceased were protected.

In Aztec and Mexican folklore traditions, the Day of the Dead represented a time when family members and friends made ofrendas [offerings] of special foods such as pan de muerto [Mexican sweet bread] and atole [corn cereal]. On those celebratory two days, the dead were thought to be awakened from their eternal sleep by the presence of guests and the scent of favorite foods and flowers. Music, visits by family and friends, dance, and candles also contributed to these awakenings.

The Spanish conquistadors who arrived in the Aztec capital in 1519 found evidence of art and sculpture demonstrating the Aztecs’ belief in the underworld and ancestral gods who ruled there.

Mexican calaveras [skeleton figures] in art originate from a mix of pre-Columbian death symbolism and European medieval art. The Mexican calaveras used in Mexican art are deeply rooted in cultural, political, and artistic traditions, notably shaped by renowned Mexican illustrator and lithographer José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913). He is credited with introducing imagery once employed by the Aztecs to depict deceased persons.

Posada popularized these lively skeletons through his illustrations, such as the iconic “La Calavera Catrina,” which satirized the Mexican upper class and their obsession with European fashions before and during the Mexican Revolution. These images were originally printed on broadsides to be accessible to the masses and often carried satirical poems, combining humor and social critique.

Posada’s calaveras became an enduring national symbol in Mexico and play a significant role in Day of the Dead celebrations, which honor deceased loved ones with altars and offerings. His calaveras became stylized skull or skeleton figures, often humorously depicting death as a universal and equalizing experience that transcends social class. These traditions were combined with European influences like the Danse Macabre, which featured dancing skeletons to symbolize the inevitability of death.

Over time, calaveras evolved from satirical prints to widespread decorative and folk art forms, including sugar skulls, ceramics, and vibrant costumes, all central to the Day of the Dead festivities. The figure of La Catrina, in particular, has transcended Posada’s original satire to become a Mexican cultural icon, symbolizing mortality with festive elegance and national identity. Posada’s calaveras were later incorporated into murals by the acclaimed Mexican painter Diego Rivera and the artistic works of Mexican American artists. The fusion of indigenous and European motifs, along with Posada’s social and political context, helped shape the rich artistic and cultural symbolism of calaveras in Mexico.

Before the mid-1970s, Day of the Dead had little public meaning for U.S.-born Latinos. Some Latino families may have created small altars at home or visited cemeteries to tend burial sites of friends and relatives on these days. Since most cemeteries devote little time and resources to older gravesites, Day of the Dead offered families opportunities to honor their departed loved ones by leaving offerings and remembrances at gravesites, and perhaps constructing small altars at home to commemorate their lives.

Until more recently, the Day of the Dead celebrations were not widely practiced in the U.S. A good explanation for this phenomenon is provided by Los Angeles Times writer Fidel Martinez. Several years ago, Martinez recalled: “Like many Mexican American families, we held on to some Mexican holiday traditions — tamales at Christmas, buñuelos at New Year’s… But Día de Muertos? Not in our house. I think we were too assimilated — too citified in the L.A. suburbs — to appreciate the Indigenous worldview that accompanies the day.”

U.S. Latinos’ first introduction to Día de los Muertos occurred in the early 1970s, as they began cultivating an interest in Mexican and Chicano art. Aztec art and artifacts suggest that Nahuatl-speaking ancestors may have practiced celebrations of the dead centuries before migrating to central Mexico, where they founded the Aztec capital. Mexican art, which gained popularity in the U.S. during the 1970s, provided Latinos with powerful visual interpretations of what the Day of the Dead meant to the Aztec people.

U.S. Latinos’ first introduction to Día de los Muertos occurred in the early 1970s, as they began cultivating an interest in Mexican and Chicano art. Aztec art and artifacts suggest that Nahuatl-speaking ancestors may have practiced celebrations of the dead centuries before migrating to central Mexico, where they founded the Aztec capital. Mexican art, which gained popularity in the U.S. during the 1970s, provided Latinos with powerful visual interpretations of what the Day of the Dead meant to the Aztec people.

This rich cultural resurgence, particularly in the United States since the 1970s, owes much to Latino artists like Regina Moya, who recognized the need to honor indigenous heritage and departed loved ones publicly. Artists have helped transform Día de los Muertos from a private familial ritual into a widely embraced cultural celebration among Latinos in major U.S. cities, with art and public events reflecting the deep historical and symbolic roots of this tradition.

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Copyright 2025 by Ricardo Romo.