This large papier mâché skull was made in Mexico as a Day of the Dead item.  

Papier mâché objects are a popular art form in Mexico. A homemade paste is made by mixing flour and hot water. Sheets of brown paper or newspaper are then added in layers to build up a firm surface. Papier mâché is also created using moulds made from fired clay or plaster so that sculptures can be mass produced. Two moulds are made, one for each half of the figure. When it is almost dry, the two halves are pasted together. The sculpture is left to dry in the hot sun and then decorated with bold designs, as seen in the image.

The Days of the Dead (Los Dias de los Muertos) are celebrated in Mexico each year on the 1^st and 2^nd of November, as winter looms and at the same time of year when people in the USA and Western Europe might celebrate Hallowe’en. Unlike Hallowe’en, The Day of the Dead is not a macabre or light hearted festival but is a joyful time of remembrance, reunion and feasting intended to honour the dead. Families gather to clean and decorate gravestones in the cemetery. A feast is prepared with special foods including sugar confectionary in the shape of skulls and skeletons and special bread known as pan de muerto (bread of the dead). At home some families create an altar with brightly coloured flowers (usually marigolds and chrysanthemums), food and drink, and photographs and personal items belonging to the dead. Stories are told about relatives and friends who have died. All these rituals are intended to entice the dead souls return to join in the celebrations with the living – a brief breaking down of the boundaries between life and death.