La Catrina by Guadalupe Posada: A female skeleton with the chapeau and dress of the 19th century grande dame; represents death which can catch you any where and anytime.

Along with dia de los muertos, there is a saint called La Santisima Muerte aka Saint Death.


Italy has their own version called “Il Giorno dei Morti” or the Italian Memorial Day. Tradition dictates that one bake cookies, called Ossa dei Morti, the Bones of the Dead, for the occasion.

In Europe there is the tradition of La Danse Macabre, (my very very old site) also called Dance of Death, La Danza Macabra, or Der Totentanz, is a late-medieval allegory on the universality of death. La Danse Macabre consists of the personified Death leading a row of dancing figures from all walks of life to the grave—typically with an emperor, king, pope, monk, youngster, beautiful girl, all in skeleton-state. They were produced under the impact of the Black Death, that reminded people of how fragile their lives were and how vain the glories of earthly life were. The imagery of le danse macabre was brought to life in 1538 with a series of woodcuts by Hans Holbein the Younger. The most popular danse macabre are found inside french and german churches.

Memento mori is a Latin phrase that means "Remember that you must die." It names a genre of artistic creations that vary widely from one another, but which all share the same purpose, which is to remind people of their own mortality.

Some musical interpretations of Le Danse Macabre include Camille Saint-Saëns Danse macabre In G Minor, Op. 40 (my fave) and Franz Liszt's Hungarian Fantasy:Totentanz.