By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS While practically every town in Mexico observes the Day of the Dead holiday in one way or another, nobody does it quite like the people of Tempoal de Sánchez, in the eastern coastal state of Veracruz. The tiny farming village in Veracruz’ northern Huasteca Alta region, with a population of just 15,000, has been celebrating the festival
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By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF The Mexico City (CDMX) government — in what may be its last big hurrah before its own political demise con Dec. 1 — will host a nine-day celebration of the Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), starting on Saturday, Oct. 27, with a colorful traditional parade and massive pre-Columbian-style altar in the Zócalo, dedicated in part
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By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF As part of the ongoing celebration of the Day of the Dead, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) is offering workshops, theatrical performances and story-tellings, as well as displays of traditional ofrendas (altars to the dearly departed) at its museums and archeological centers across the country. During the workshops, which are being
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS Back in the 1910, Mexican printmaker, engraver and newspaper cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada frequently used images of human skulls and bareboned skeletons to make political and cultural critiques of what he perceived of as the absurdities of Mexican society. One of his most famous skeletal images was that of Catrina, an elegant skull dressed only in an
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS For the 12th straight year, a pageant of hundreds of oversized winged dragons, gargantuan multihued insects and superhuman-sized Catrina walking-dead dolls took to the streets in Mexico City on Saturday, Oct. 21, as the now-iconic Monumental Alebrijes Parade got underway. The parade, which this year was heralded in by a spooky-toned blues concert courtesy of Bandula and
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS For the first time in the southeastern Mexican state’s history, the government of Yucatán will host a three-city celebration of the Festival de las Ánimas (Festival of Spirits, a slightly less macabre take on Mexico’s renowned Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead) from Wednesday, Oct. 24, through Friday, Nov. 2. For the last three years,
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