Ceramic Mexican Aztec Mask with Skulls, "Honoring Death"

Drawing on a lifelong study of Mexico's pre-Hispanic cultures, artisans from the Angel Cerón Artisan Association create a mask of their own design. It depicts a personage wearing a feathered headdress surrounded by small human skulls. "This mask is based on the cult of death," the artisans say. "In the month of August, the Aztecs celebrated the festival of the dead when loved ones were honored and remembered. It was called Miccailhuitonitli."