“The Mexican is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his toys and his most steadfast love.”
~ Octavio Paz
Like many Mexican families, tomorrow my mom and I will go to the cemetery to commemorate Dia de los Muertos. In our family we never had the elaborate festivities you read about. Even so, as a child I always felt that these were special days.
Perhaps you will hear the word Calaveras tossed arund during this time and you’ll think of the spooky skeletal drawings but Calaveras also refers to satirical poems that abound this time of the year. The poems are often sharp criticisms of political figures or current events and sometimes they are just for fun.
When I was in Austin this weekend I picked up La Voz de Esperanza, a monthly journal published by the Esperanza Center. The journal has some very witty Calaveras. You can check the November issue to read one.
