Educational Media Reviews Online

Purépecha is a pre-Colombian end-of-harvest veneration of the deceased and cult of Saint, or Holy, Death that is celebrated in Mexico every year. In Michoacán, death is an omnipresent aspect of everyday life: Calaveras, papier-mâché statues of clothed skeletons engaged in everyday activities, are used to take away the horror of death. Mixing Christianity and the traditional Tarasco religion, the cross is used to symbolize the four points of the compass, with the sun at the center. Marigolds, seen as small suns, and a gift from the Sun God, are formed into a large arch, topped by a cross, and erected by each house so that the dead can find their way home to visit their families during the Days of the Dead (November 1 and November 2.) Unfortunately, tourists neither understand nor respect this traditional rite and see it as a photo opportunity and a fun festival. A young woman artisan is shown studying the techniques of creating Calaveras, and she and her grandmother are shown trying to sell their traditional crafts and prepare for the visit of the grandmother’s deceased husband.

The length makes this film unsuitable for classroom use, and, although it contains much useful information, the documentary style, which uses more voice-over description than actual dialogue, is old fashioned, and the use of the title “Saint” for death, when the Spanish “santo” could also be translated “holy,” which would make more sense in this context, is a jarring note. It would be useful in at an undergraduate level, but only as part of a much broader and in-depth study of the subject.