Throughout school, I had been taught of the meanings of the various offerings in a Day of the Dead altar.

As I mentioned before, I had never stopped to think about why they were such an indispensable element of an ofrenda. It seems a bit morbid to display skulls in an altar, even if those skulls are small, made of sugar, and edible, as well as quite tasty!

Why would the offerings in an altar include these sugar skulls? The reason goes all the way back to prehistoric times, when the skull was a predominant figure in Mesoamerican societies and cultures in various aspects and depictions.

One of these depictions was the tzompantli, a wooden rack in which the skulls of war prisoners or human sacrifices were displayed. These civilizations believed in a spiritual life after death, and so these skulls were an offering to the god of the underworld, Mictlantecuhtli, who would assure a safe passage into the land he ruled.

With the arrival of the Spanish conquerors and their religion, these traditions were lost, and yet a part of them was kept alive by maintaining the figure of the skull in a sweet confection that we can place in our altars as part of our offerings to the deceased.

This paste allows for artisans to mold it into the shape of a skull to later decorate it for display.

While these sweet skulls are found all over Mexico, some states prefer to make these confections with other ingredients, such as almonds, honey and covered with peanuts , amaranth which is kind of like little balls of grain compressed into different shaped , and even gummies!

The reason they come in different sizes, besides decoration purposes, is because small skulls are usually meant to represent children, while the bigger skulls represent adults and elders.

Now, why are these somehow endearing skulls decorated with little icing details instead of just being the mold of the skull?

Is it only so that they look cute instead of creepy? No, not exactly. Some skulls were formerly decorated with sombreros , although these designs have mostly disappeared since the s.

The calaveras are traditionally sold at outdoor market stalls beginning two weeks before the Day of the Dead.

Other calaveras are produced to be edible. Most are cast as one piece from cane sugar, which can either be left unflavored or else flavored with vanilla.

The calaveras are typically colored with vegetable dyes. As with the more decorative calaveras, these will sometimes have names written on the foreheads, as well.

Calaveras may be eaten, or kept for a few days and then thrown away. Clay toy variations of calaveras also resemble the shape of human skulls.

These toys are often painted a metallic silver color, but they may also be found in colors such as white, black, and red. Beaded eyes of many colors may also be added for decoration.

Poetry written for the Day of the Dead are known as literary calaveras , and are intended to humorously criticize the living while reminding them of their mortality.

Living personalities were depicted as skeletons exhibiting recognizable traits, making them easily identifiable.

Additionally, drawings of dead personalities often contained text elements providing details of the deaths of various individuals. Sometimes known as "sugar skull" make-up, or Catrina make-up, facepainting a skull with ornate elements is a popular element of Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico.

Girl has face painted in Mexico City , celebrating Day of the Dead , People photographed in Mexico City , celebrating Day of the Dead.

Girls with sugar skull make-up photographed in Mexico City , celebrating Day of the Dead , Girl with sugar skull make-up photographed in Mexico City , celebrating Day of the Dead , Man with sugar skull make-up photographed in Mexico City , celebrating Day of the Dead , From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Mexican skull model made out of sugar or clay. For other uses, see Calaveras disambiguation. Reign Trading Co. Archived from the original on 19 June Retrieved 19 June History TV.

Archived from the original on 10 March Martha Stewart. Tejano Tribune.

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