Many families take the time to celebrate, decorate or visit the graves of relatives. Modern Celebrations
Día de los Muertos celebrations are massive affairs. While
each city celebrates in its own way, travellers are bound to enjoy this vivid expression of Mexican culture and history wherever they are. Te holiday is observed nationally and parades are often held, filling the streets for an entire day or more. In Mazatlán, the climax of the holiday is the Callejoneada
parade that takes place on the evening of Nov. 1. In true Mazatleco style, it has a party atmosphere complete with donkeys pulling gigantic kegs of free beer through the streets. Te parade begins and ends in Plazuela Machado, starting around 6:30 p.m. Tere are often live performances before and after the parade, with dancers and live bands. Te crowd gets involved and people dress in skull masks or makeup and don elegant costumes as thousands dance and sing through the streets in a colourful display. Altares
Families create altares filled with ofrendas or offerings on
tables or by gravesites to welcome back their departed loved ones. Offerings can include favourite items, food or drinks, photographs, cempasuchitl (marigolds), tissue paper flowers, candles and other items to entice the dead to stop in and visit.
In Mazatlán there are altars available for public view-
ing, generally the altars visited during the Callejoneada. Te tourism board will often create a map, but if you can’t locate one, you should be able to see a few altars just by walking the streets of the Centro Historico. In the Golden Zone, business and hotels often set up altars for famous people that have passed on.
Cemeteries
During the Day of the Dead many families can be found having a picnic, decorating and cleaning their ancestors’ gravesites. Many will make a day of it, hire a band and have a little party in the cemetery while they reminisce about their loved ones. Vendors will be set up outside the cemetery sell- ing flowers and decorations. If you have never experienced
Altares can be viewed around town with their ofrendas. 46 • Fall 2016
Sugar skulls are a holiday treat for the living and dead. The Hub
Photo by Steve Bridger.
Photo by Cordelia Persen. Photo by Enaes de Troya.
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