ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes and challenges the well-entrenched stereotype of what the author terms the “morbid Mexican,” an individual obsessed with death, unafraid of death, and even jolly in the face of death. The author demonstrates that the origin of this stereotype owes in part to a widespread appreciation of pre-Columbian sculptural and pictorial images of skulls and skeletons. More recent artistic representations of death, such as those by graphic artist José Guadalupe Posada and painter Diego Rivera, have also contributed to creating this image, as has the literary work of poet and essayist Octavio Paz. The chapter cites extensive ethnographic evidence to show extensive variation in attitudes toward death within Mexico, especially among indigenous peoples. There has also been a change in attitudes over time, particularly due to the growing elaboration and popularity of the Day of the Dead. The contrast between the emotional texture of this mortuary ritual, on the one hand, and the wakes and funerals of individual relatives and friends, on the other, is striking proof that Mexican attitudes vary significantly by social context. Although Mexicans are reputed to be uniquely fixated on death, evidence shows that they are much like everyone else.
