Sugar skull, moulded of white sugar candy and adorned with icing and foil, c. 1979.
The decorative candy skull (calavera de azucar) is a common sight at Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) festivities, a widely observed holiday in Mexico in which celebrants commemorate the departed. This particular skull pictured here is adorned with a length of blue foil upon the forehead, where the name of the deceased to be honoured, or the name of the person to whom it will be given, may be written.
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.
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Cite This Work
APA Style
History, S. N. M. o. N. (2025, September 29). Decorated Sugar Skull for Day of the Dead. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21122/decorated-sugar-skull-for-day-of-the-dead/
Chicago Style
History, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural. "Decorated Sugar Skull for Day of the Dead." World History Encyclopedia, September 29, 2025. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21122/decorated-sugar-skull-for-day-of-the-dead/.
MLA Style
History, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural. "Decorated Sugar Skull for Day of the Dead." World History Encyclopedia, 29 Sep 2025, https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21122/decorated-sugar-skull-for-day-of-the-dead/.
