Day of the Dead

Día de los Muertos

(Updated October 13, 2023)

First of all I feel really unqualified to write anything about Día de los Muertos. There are so many celebrations and so many colourful, vivid displays to see it’s really hard to keep up with it all!

The best explanation really is the Disney Coco movie.

Día de los Muertos is celebrated across Mexico as families, streetscapes, public areas and museums build their ofrendas and decorate for the season. An ofrenda is an altar to honour the life of loved ones who have died. The ofrenda has four elements: water (water or favourite drinks), earth (food, like bread), wind (the cut-out paper bunting or papel picado), and fire (candles). And there are also photos of loved ones.

Other elements include sugar or chocolate skulls, pan muerto (a bun with nubs like bones on it and covered in sugar), cempasúchil (yellow marigolds that are the biggest marigolds I have ever seen!) which are set out so the yellow petals offer a path for the spirits to find the family’s homes.

Día de los Muertos is not Hallowe’en and is celebrated on November 2nd. In fact our children have it as a day off of school.

We have stayed in Mexico City for the Hallowe’en and Día de los Muertos days and enjoyed parades down Reforma to the Zócalo, ofrendas around the city, and displays of Catrinas (the skeleton lady with the fancy feathered hat). Here are some things we have enjoyed seeing in Mexico City for Día de los Muertos for the last two years and I’ve updated the list for 2023. Dressing up is encouraged and you will often see people getting their makeup and face paint done at impromptu stands on the street.

Parades
I find timeout Mexico is the best place to find out about the events. And also the Mexican Secretaria de Cultura.

• This year, 2023, Saturday, October 21 the Museo of Popular Arte’s Alebrijes Parade will start at noon in the Zócalo and go up Reforma.
• Sunday, October 22 the Catrina Parade will leave the by the Angel on Reforma at 5:30 p.m. and go towards the Zócalo.
• Saturday, November 4 in the evening, there will be the Día de los Muertos Parade, leaving from Puerta de los Leones (the lion’s gate) at Chapultepec Park at 2 p.m. and going down Reforma to the Zócalo.

Night Events

• Oct 27 and 28 from 5 p.m. to midnight there is the Night of the Axolotl. It’s at the Museo del Axolotl Parque de los Aguilas. The entrance is $150 p for adults and $100 p for children.
• Oct 28 there is a nighttime bike ride 19:00 to 23:00 hours and people will be dressed up on their bicycles. You can rent ecobicis too if you don’t have a bike. It’s all the way down Reforma for 18 km
• November 1 at 7:30 p.m. there is a Chapultepec Nighttime Run for adults and children, 5K and 10K leaving from Los Pinos. You can sign up at Innovasport shops or here.
• In the past there was an evening light display at Chapultepec Park, but I can’t find any information on it for 2023.

Ofrendas
You can find ofrendas in most places around the city. The museums have really nice big ones, there are some in San Angel, in the churches in the centre such as Templo de San Francisco, the Cuidadela craft market had one, and even the shops will have ofrendas. The Ofrenda Monumental will be in the Zócalo from October 27 to November 4.

UNAM will have altars to women in the sciences, humanities and arts on November 1 and 2.

Alebrijes
The alebrijes are absolutely incredibly huge sculptures which look so light and delicate. They are usually very skinny, brightly painted with swirls and dots and are a combination of a couple of animals all put together. They were created by paper mache artist, Pedro Linares, who in 1936 became so ill he had hallucinations of mythical type beasts, such as a frog with a rooster’s head, and the creatures were saying “Alebrije!” When he was well he recreated the figures and they were born into Mexican folk art. (Pepita in Coco is an Alebrije.)

The last year the Catrinas and Alebrijes were on display in the Zócalo for the first week of November and then in MAP (Museo Arte Popular) which has an incredible gift shop as well. We did a nice walk from Bellas Artes, through the Alameda Central Park, to the Zócalo and then back up via MAP to see the sites.

From Oct 21 to Nov 5 the alebrijes will line the streets from the zocalo, to 5 de mayo, to Juarez and up Reforma to the Angel. Walking down Reforma during the day and looking at the alebrijes up close is one of my favourite things to do.

Nov 2 there will be installations in the Zocalo to see, we love going down in the morning.

Pan de Muerto / Chocolate

There are many pan de muerto and chocolate festivals around the city this year.

• Oct 21 at 4 p.m. there is a Pan de Muerto festival where you try all the breads you can in four hours. It’s at Av. 5 de Mayo 61, Centro Histórico and you can buy tickets in advance.
• Oct 21 and 22 the cafe of Museo Kaluz is having a festival of Pan de Muerto, tickets are $120 pp
• Nov 3-5 at the Palacio de la Autonomia of UNAM, by the Zocalo has one for $20 pesos per person.

Let me know what else there is not to miss in Mexico City for Día de los Muertos! Frida Kahlo’s museum had a nice ofrenda last year and during the last week of October, on calle Masaryk, all the shops had gorgeous floral displays on which are not to be missed!

This is a great list of things to do (in Spanish).