Calaveritas

For Day of the Dead, many families set up an ofrenda or offering to the spirits of loved ones who have passed away. In urban areas, skulls and skeletons are popular elements of ofrendas. In addition to sugar skulls, miniature skeleton figures like these, known as calaveritas, reenact scenes from daily life. They represent the ancestors and things they liked to do, bringing back happy memories of the deceased. Calaveritas can also present social commentary by spoofing the rich and powerful. They are a physical representation of calavera poetry, rhyming poems accompanied by satirical cartoons published in newspapers for Day of the Dead.