Calaveras Literarias, or Literary Skulls, are compositions of verse and rhymes, originally from Mexico. These poems typically circulated in the days leading up to the Day of the Dead. They are fun and irreverent expressions that usually satirize a well-known person or event by playfully parodying the inevitable death of those involved.
Following the spirit of the calaveritas, our Hispanic Languages and Literature undergraduate students (SPN 100 to 300 level) have written 931 poems to compete in what might very well be the largest literary contest on campus! The winners in the three categories will be announced during the Día de los Muertos celebration in the LACS gallery in SBS N-320 on Wed. Nov. 2nd (2022) from 1 to 2.20 pm. Congratulations to all students that participated. Our thanks to all HLL faculty and Teaching Assistants (graduate students) that contributed to this literary event, coordinated by Dr. Lilia Ruiz- Debbe. The jury was composed of six faculty members in our department: Aura Colón, Elena Davidiak, Lena Burgos-Lafuente, Luis Rodríguez Chávez, Pablo García Gámez and Zaida Corniel.
Our Calaveras Literarias Contest is a fun language exercise in humorous rhymes and verses. A good Literary Skull is ingenious, ironic, subtle, uses caricatures and has a certain rhyme and rhythm. These can be in English, Spanish or bilingual.
The structure of the calaveritas literarias typically consists of stanzas of four lines in which the second line rhymes with the last, or stanzas of five in which the third line rhymes with the last. The length of the poem varies, but this is often short. However, nowadays people do not follow a particular structure, sometimes these being written in a form of ‘blank verse’ or even free verses. The calaveritas always put an emphasis on musicality.
Though the caleveritas or literary skulls have been around since the colonial era, they were popularized in Mexican newspapers in the nineteenth century. Inspired by long and ostentatious epitaphs of nobles, Mexican literary artists used this format to criticize governing officials. Some literary critics believe that friar Joaquín Bolaños’ “La portentosa vida de la muerte” is a precursor to the Literary Skulls of the 1800s. The first Skull to appear in a newspaper was in 1849, in Guadalajara, Jalisco.
José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913), the great Mexican graphic artist and satirist, author of the iconic Calavera Catrina, an etching of 1910-1913 that satirized upper class women before the Mexican Revolution, also wrote satiric poems. Here is one stanza of Guadalupe Posada’s calaverita, an invitation to participate in the joy of writing:
Quien quiera gozar de veras
y divertirse un ratón,
venga con las calaveras
a gozar en el panteón.