What is Day of the Dead Festival?

Right now I’m sat in a coffee shop by the Santa Domingo Church in the centre of what were huge Day of the Dead celebrations last night, and the night before. There’s one night left of Dia de los Muertos, and my new friends and I are planning on going all out on the costumes to fit in.

But what is this Day of the Dead Festival I’m filling my Instagram feed with, and why?

Day of the Dead Festival, or Dia de los Muertos to give it it’s proper Spanish name, is a chance for families and friends to come together and celebrate the lives of their dead loved ones. In Mexican culture it’s believed that on November 1st, at 3pm precisely, souls return to the living for just 24 hours and you must be there to greet them with the pleasures they enjoyed most in life.

For three days – from 31 October to 2 November – Mexicans get together to share stories of friends and family that have passed. The dead souls are not feared, but are warmly welcomed and actively enticed through a variety of Dia de los Muertos traditions.

Is Day of the Dead Festival morbid?

Day of the Dead Festival is fun! It’s a joyous, vibrant and colourful occasion for everyone to get involved in. A carnival of death can be difficult to comprehend but it’s a celebration of what the dead have bought into the living’s lives, not a sadness that they’ve gone. During Day of the Dead Festival even the graveyards are fun places to be – and check out the main Santa Domingo Church above, complete with light projections.

Unlike England, in Mexico, death is talked about, it’s fêted and made light of in every aspect of Mexican culture from art to TV shows.

“To the inhabitant of New York, Paris or London, death is a word that is never uttered because it burns the lips. The Mexican on the other hand, frequents it, mocks it, caresses it, sleeps with it, entertains it; it is one of his favourite playthings and his most enduring love.”

– Octavio Paz in The Labyrinth of Solitude, Nobel Prize for Literature Winner

Best place for Day of the Dead Festival

After a lot of research I decided the best place for me to celebrate Day of the Dead Festival