MEXICO CITY (AP) — Bright orange marigolds, lit candles and faces painted like elegant skeletons known as catrinas fill the streets of Mexico each year during the country’s national holiday. Day of the Dead celebrations.
The festivities begin in October and end on November 1 and 2, when the souls of deceased loved ones would temporarily return to earth to reunite with their families.
No one knows when the first celebration took place, but it is rooted in the agricultural beliefs of Mexico’s pre-Hispanic era. Catholic traditions were incorporated into the celebration after the Spanish conquest in 1521.
Today, the celebrations are marked by massive parades along Mexico City’s main avenue. The streets, shops and markets are covered in orange Flowers of Mexican marigold, or cempasuchilbelieved to light the path of the dead to earth with their bright colors. The traditional pan de muerto, or bread of the dead, lines the windows of bakeries.
Families decorate the altars of their loved ones in their homes, placing treats, food, and mezcal as offerings alongside photos of their loved ones.
On the night of November 1, families gather in cemeteries across the country to reconnect with their dead, just as their ancestors have done for centuries.
But as the tradition and Mexico’s capital gain more and more prominence on the international stage and states like Oaxaca and Michoacan experience an influx of tourists, some regions have seen tensions around overtourism.
In Mexico City, many residents are skeptical of an annual parade featuring floats decorated with catrinas. The procession was created for the 2015 James Bond film “Spectre” and later incorporated into the town’s celebrations, although previously it was not part of the tradition.
On Janitzio, a small island on a lake in the central state of Michoacán where celebrations were recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2008, authorities closed the pantheon to tourists for the first time this year. The closure came after the island’s community council reported collapsing graves, crosses and parts of the cemetery boundary wall damaged due to the flood of people.
Only local families and friends of those buried there would be allowed entry.
Gn world
