Revellers parade as dapper skeletons through Mexico City ahead of next week’s Day of the Dead as the famous holiday becomes increasingly popular worldwide
- Mexicans dress as the country’s skeletal figure La Catrina created by Jose Guadalupe Posada as satire in 1910
- A tribute was made to Mexican muralist Rivera and painter Frida Kahlo ahead of the Day of the Dead next week
- City revelers wore mariachi crooners or dressed as Quinceañera princesses in flamboyant dresses yesterday
Published: 09:15 GMT, 27 October 2019 | By Phoebe Eckersley For Mailonline
Thousands of Mexicans paraded the city’s streets dressed as a centuries old skeletal bride and hid behind sugar-skull masks ahead of the city’s Day of the Dead next week.
The day is to start on November 1 and will see family members camp out at their family’s grave sites to pay homage across the central and south America regions. Others might have a more low-key commemoration and build alters and light candles at home.
But yesterday they wore outfits resembling the Mexican skeletal figure known as La Catrina along Reforma avenue, Mexico, for the Catrina parade ahead of the celebrations next week. Some paid tribute to the country’s folklore as mariachi crooners or as Quinceañera princesses in flamboyant dresses which are traditionally worn for a ceremony marking a girl’s 15th birthday in Mexico.
Mario Díaz, 29, celebrates the holiday for a whole month and cooks up enchiladas drenched in green salsa and pours tequila in memory of his godfather.
Meanwhile another resident Madai Selbor dressed as La Malinche, the Nahua woman who interpreted for conquistador Hernan Cortes, with whom she also had a child.
Hollywood has made its own adaptations of the ghoulish festivities in films such as Disney’s Coco in 2017 and The Book of Life where a character Lady Death rules an underworld known as ‘the Land of the Remembered’.
The wide-rimmed Catrina style hats became an iconic fashion garment in Mexico after illustrator Jose Guadalupe Posada sketched the image at a time when elite Mexican women copied Paris fashion trends and powdered their faces to appear more European. Posada created the drawing a tool for social satire after living under dictator Porfirio Diaz.
Before Spain’s conquest of Mexico in 1519, the Aztecs dedicated most of August to their goddess of death Mictecacihuatl. They then moved the celebration to coincide with Catholic holidays like All Souls Day – held on Day of the Dead.
A woman holds an umbrella and makes a statement in a white dress, walking alongside a little girl who wears the iconic Catrinas hat, in preparation for the Day of the Dead next week
Girls get their faces painted and decorated with gems during the Catrinas parade, ahead of the highly anticipated holiday next week. While some people will camp out at their loved one’s grave sites before the Day of the Dead, others might have a more low-key and reflective commemoration at home – erecting alters and lighting candles
A picture of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and painter Frida Kahlo is seen in an offering made as part of a collaboration between French designer Jean Paul Gaultier and the Anahuacalli museum in honour of Rivera, Kahlo and Mexican culture for the upcoming Day of the Dead
The Lady of the Dead is an ‘iconic part of the death imagery’ according to R. Andrew Chesnut, a professor of Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University who researches Catholic death culture. The character has seen women pain elaborate makeup and a flamboyant head-dress or hat to pay tribute to a deceased loved one
Two revellers cut a sleek shape in their dazzling, sequined attire. A woman holds a violin and brings a solemn sound to Mexico City’s streets in honour of the dead
A couple make a statement entrance in their sleek head-to-toe black outfits, during the parade yesterday. The woman dons a Catrina style hat as a tribute to the illustration of the skeletal lady who wore an oversized hat considered haute couture at a time when elite Mexican women copied Paris fashion trends and powdered their faces to appear more European
The Catrinas Lady of the Dead was created by illustrator Jose Guadalupe Posada as a form of social satire while Meixco was living under the dictator Porfirio Diaz
A tribute to Mexican muralist Rivera, painter Frida Kahlo and Mexican culture is made through an eclectic display in Mexico City on October 25. Skeletal shaped hand-crafted ornaments and flowers are laid across a rose-patterned cloth
Ximena Bobadilla Ortiz, left, gets her face painted by Belen Marquez ahead of the march. La Catrina has been amplified by the Hollywood film The Book of Life which saw a character named ‘La Muerte’ or Lady Death, wearing a giant hat and ruling an underworld known as the Land of the Remembered’
A man wears sinister makeup, a clown outfit and holds a single red balloon to resemble the villian from the movie IT during the celebrations. Some of the local residents do not fear the event becoming increasingly commercial and say the ‘essence’ is still there
Donning an intricate and creative sugar skull mask and skeletal suit, a man gets pulled aside for a quick picture during the event, along Mexico City’s iconic Reforma avenue, yesterday