Personal Thoughts:

This costume holds a lot of personal significance for me. My grandfather passed away a few years ago & it was the first time I lost someone close to me. I had lost extended family & acquaintances before, but this was the first time death hit close to home. Later that year I ended up losing a handful of good friends as well. We treat death very different in American culture as opposed to most other cultures. We treat it so final, like it's an end. Other places celebrate it & view it as a transition. Being Hispanic, I saw the holiday as not only something to help give me closure on the great amount of loss that hit me all at once, but also as a way of honoring my grandfather in a way I thought he'd appreciate. I wanted to make this costume as a homage to my grandfather & loved ones & to the holiday & what it means to me.

A catrina is a female skeletal figurine, usually with a decorated sugar skull face, that is placed on an altar or a grave of a female deceased loved one. The altar is usually decked out in food, items belonging to the person, candles, flowers (usually marigolds as those are the official flower for Dia de los Muertos). I chose to add blue, & some white roses, to the design because I liked the color scheme & because of the personal significance they hold for me.

I was fortunate enough to have this featured on CNN.com's coverage of costumes at Dragoncon. Because this costume is so personally close to me, having CNN post it really did mean a lot.

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