Danse Macabre

It's a Full Moon tomorrow and Halloween on Wednesday, followed by the Mexican Day of the Dead or Día de los Muertos on Thursday...all of which make me think of the Danse Macabre which, according to Wikipedia, "consists of the dead summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child and laborer. They were produced to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life. Its origins are postulated from illustrated sermon texts; the earliest recorded visual scheme was a now lost mural in the Saints Innocents Cemetery in Paris dating from 1424-25."

The Dance of Death (1493) by Michael Wolgemut,
from the Liber chronicarum byHartmann Schedel.

Interesting article in the Guardian on Art's fascination with death and how the terror of mortality has always mingled with joie de vivre.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/oct/26/sex-death-dancing-wellcome-collection 

More info. on Danse Macabre:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danse_Macabre