El Día de los Muertos - Calaveras, Pedir Calaverita

Halloween has come and gone, and so has El Día de los Muertos.

I'm not going to attempt to explain this celebration to you, but instead point you to several great sites that explain the tradition quite well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/dead/articles/dead-history.html

Also, here are some great photos that will really give you some insight into how the holiday is celebrated in México .

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Dia+de+Muertos+mexico

So what am I going to talk about, you ask? Read on...

While we know the tradition of Halloween is celebrated in México, I realized I had no idea how to talk about the actual act of trick or treating. The phrase is pedir calaverita.

Some examples...

Tus hijos van a pedir calavarita?
Are your kids going to go trick or treating?

Fuiste a pedir calavarita con tus hijos?
Did you go trick or treating with your kids?

I made another post last year about Halloween in México, Dulce or Traversura, which you may want to read about. There's also a great post in WordReference that discusses Halloween, you can read it here. It's a mix of English and Spanish, so you can get in some great reading practice as well.

Another thing I learned about is calaveras. The word calavera actually has several meanings - skull, and colloquially also means skeleton. The official word for skeleton is esqueleto.

And since we're on the subject of calaveras, I will point out that as a part of El Día de los Muertos, they sell calaveras de dulce - candy skulls. Here's a few photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucynieto/4066189487/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gatopicaro/3024836333/in/photostream/

The chocolate ones really look delicious, if you ask me.

I said calaveras has multiple meanings. Well, here's another one: a funny or sarcastic phrase or poem about the dead (muertos) .

Here are a few examples:

Yo decia que ese medico no era de fiar.
I knew this doctor wasn't trustworthy.

El marido sobre el tumbo de su mujer: Aqui yace mi mujer, fria...como siempre.
The husband wrote on his wife's tumb: Here lies my wife, cold, like always.

Here's a link to a photo that will give these calaveritas a little more life:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23023280@N05/2995845235/sizes/l/in/photostream/

I was actually in Mexico one year for El Día de los Muertos, but I was pretty much ignorant to the celebration and missed an opportunity for a great cultural experience. Oh well, maybe next year.

I hope you've enjoyed this, as personally I love learning about the culture of México as much as I do the Spanish language.

¡Hasta Luego!