In Mexico the festivity of the Day of the Dead is not only limited to commemorate family members and loved ones who have left us, but also to remember those known entertainment figures who have marked the history of film, television and music, so that in theaters, art schools, television stations, etc. it has also become customary to pay tribute to personalities of the show business through special offerings.
For that reason it is not uncommon to find photos of celebrities in altars or even catrinas and catrines characterized as them, which is the case of the exhibition that I had the pleasure of visiting on Sunday with my family. Previously, I had shared with you our tour of the "Valley of the Catrinas" on Saturday, during which we could see that inside the city hall there was a special exhibition which at that time we could not enter due to the amount of people that were inside, so we agreed to return the next day to see the exhibition more calmly.
On Sunday we hurried to have breakfast in order to arrive early, hoping that there would not be as many people as the previous day, however, to our surprise the place was already flooded with people, but we still decided to go in so as not to waste the day. The exhibit consisted of 11 catrinas and catrines of famous Mexican characters from television, music, movies, history and art.
The first to greet us was the mythical María Félix, with her characteristic dress and her ever-present cigarette, the next one that caught our attention was a character in a gray suit that at first I did not recognize, but at his feet he carried an unforgettable name for all Hispanics José José. The next one on the tour did not need to be read and I don't think he needs much introduction either, since he is the legendary comedian Cantinflas.
There were several characters that I, as a foreigner, did not know well enough to recognize them without having to read the legend at their feet, such were the cases of El santo one of the most famous wrestler in Mexico (if not the most), Capulina and La india María, who were a couple of comedians who, to this day remain a mystery to me.
Then it was the turn to remember the incomparable Juan Gabriel, the beloved "Divo de Juárez", I must admit that when I saw him I didn't recognize him until I noticed the detail of his arms, a very famous pose of this great singer, who always accompanied his songs with some funny and memorable dance steps (which more than once made him fall off the stage, hahahaha).
The next figure on my tour was the "Caudillo of the South", the legendary Emiliano Zapata, with whom I had a funny anecdote because many did not know who he was (even if they were Mexican), I understand that it was an exhibition mostly of artists, but gee, not recognizing Zapata with his mustache and his typical clothes is incredible, even I who am a foreigner did not hesitate to know who he was.
I think there is no other character that is more captured in the art of the Catrinas than Frida Kahlo, who of course was also honored in this exhibition and at this point I would have liked to see her accompanied by the also talented Diego Rivera, who justly helped to popularize the figure of the classic catrina in his mural called "Sueño de una tarde dominical en la alameda central", I think they missed the opportunity to give a great touch to this exhibition by not putting him there.
The last character we saw on our tour was Tin Tan, a well-known actor and comedian, known by everyone in Mexico as "El pachuco de oro", but to me he is the voice of the endearing Baloo in the classic cartoon The Jungle Book and Thomas O'malley in the Aristocats, in the end I was left wanting to see a wink to these two characters in his catrin.
I know I told you that the exhibition consisted of 11 figures and I have only told you about 10, the reason for this is that we could never get close to the last figure due to the amount of people who were taking pictures with it, it was the Chapulín colorado, who was representing the beloved Chespirito. Honestly, I was surprised they hadn't put Chavo del 8, but seeing the success of the Chapulin figure, they certainly didn't make a mistake by choosing him.
It was a somewhat tiring walk, even though we were inside an enclosure and the tour was not too long, there were so many people that taking pictures was quite a difficult task that required all my patience. In the end we enjoyed very much this new outing and we are waiting to see what other surprises this eve of the Day of the Dead has in store for us. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed our tour.
Pictures taken by me - Cover and banner made in Canva - Cartoons made in Bitmoji.
