Skeletons riding bicycles skeletons wearing fancy hats skeletons dancing and strumming on guitars We call these festive bony figures calaveras In Spanish the word calavera ca-la-VEH-rah means skull A lot of things that are associated with skulls and with el Día de Muertos the Day of the Dead are called calaveras For example there are calavera drawings candy calaveras calavera poems and calavera toys The skeleton figures are not scary in fact they look as if they’re having fun 2
They are the creation of José Guadalupe Posada and this is his story 3
In 1852 in a small house in the Mexican city of Aguascalientes José Guadalupe Posada was born Lupe LOO-peh as everyone called him was the son of a baker and the sixth of eight children 4
Lupe’s older brother Cirilo became a teacher He taught Lupe how to read and write Lupe loved to copy the drawings he saw in prints and in books at school Cirilo noticed how well Lupe drew and helped him enroll at the local art academy 5
