How Mexicans celebrate Day of the Dead
And why their attitude to death is one we should emulate
It’s 3.30 am in the morning and I’m carefully picking my way through the cemetery at TzinTzunTzan on the shores of Lake Patzcuaro in the Mexican state of Michoacán.
You might think it would be a dark, even dangerous enterprise at that time of the morning with scarcely anyone around but in fact you can hardly move for people like me who have crossed countries and continents to to witness the experience for themselves. Every tomb is elaborately decorated, the whole place ablaze with colour and candles. It’s utterly breathtaking.
I’d first heard of the celebrations in this part of the country at a dinner in London where the chef had shown pictures of a flotilla of boats sailing out to the nearby island of Janitzio. And had been wanting to go ever since, the main reason, as I’ve said, for resigning from the Guardian.
We were discouraged from going to Janitzio because of the crowds but in fact it’s impossible to escape them at this time of year.
Since its depiction in the James Bond film Spectre and more particularly the enchanting Disney cartoon Coco, interest in Dia de los Muertos, as it’s known in Spanish, has taken off exponentially. It’s become not just a Mexican celebration but one the whole world wants to be part of.
For those of you who are not familiar with the event DOTD takes place on November 1st and 2nd though celebrations spill over into the preceding and following days. When we arrived in Pátzcuaro on the 31st there was a huge parade which seemed to involve every community group and school in town. Everyone is dressed and made up in the style of La Catrina - the emblematic skeleton of the festival.
On a more domestic scale families celebrate those they have lost, building ‘altars’, putting up pictures and placing ofrendas or offerings to welcome their ancestors, the belief underlying the festival being that they come back to visit on that day.
Unlike the somewhat low key commemoration in Europe where many do no more than place a pot of chrysanthemums on the grave, it’s a riot of colour, Mexico’s equivalent of the Rio carnival.
The celebrations on Janitzio and TzinTzunTzan are among of the best though almost a victim of their own success. We couldn’t move for people or coaches (our final return was at 5.30am) but it is well worth seeing the celebrations for yourself. (More on this in my first timer’s guide to Mexico)
However the beauty of DOTD is that you can celebrate it at home in your own way.