What to know
- The iconic Rockefeller Center in the heart of Manhattan kicked off a week-long celebration on Thursday that pays homage to Mexico’s heritage and traditional “Day of the Dead”.
- For the second consecutive year, “Mexico Week: Day of the Dead at Rockefeller Center” offers a vibrant experience that showcases art, food and drink in honor of Mexico and its heritage.
- “Mexico Week: Day of the Dead at Rockefeller Center” will take place from October 27th.
NEW YORK – The iconic Rockefeller Center in the heart of Manhattan kicked off a week-long celebration on Thursday that pays homage to Mexico’s legacy and traditional “Day of the Dead”.
For the second consecutive year, “Mexico Week: Day of the Dead at Rockefeller Center” offers a vibrant experience that showcases art, food and drink in honor of Mexico and its heritage.
Rockefeller Plaza features an “Ofrenda”, an altar that honors loved ones who have died. At each end of the Ofrenda is a brightly colored “alebrije” or folk art sculpture. The two sculptures feature fantastic animals well known in Mexican tradition: a huge jaguar and a Quetzalcoatl, a Mesoamerican deity of a feathered serpent.
There are also catrinas, the famous decorated skeleton figures, named after the superstars Elvis and the Mexican actress and singer María Félix, known as “La Doña”.
Mayor Eric Adams, Mexican Consul General Jorge Islas, and several city leaders, as well as representatives from Mexico, were in attendance to attend the inauguration, highlighting Mexico’s contributions to the world over the centuries, including most notably New York City during these last few years of pandemic.
“[La comunidad mexicana es] now the third largest immigrant population here in New York City, there is such an important role during COVID when so many people took refuge on the spot, so many people practiced social distancing, so many people could not leave the their homes. It was our emerging immigrant population, especially the Mexican community, that played a role in ensuring that this city could continue to function, and that’s something we need to recognize, “Adams said.” The immigrant community doesn’t need the United States, the United States needs the immigrant community.
The Day of the Dead, also known in some parts as the Day of the Dead, is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2 with a joyful celebration where friends and family gather to pay homage and remember their already deceased loved ones.
“We have been celebrating this tradition since pre-Hispanic times, at least 2,000 years before Christ,” Islas said, adding that the exhibit at Rockefeller Center “allows us to showcase the best of Mexico in front of the most diverse and multicultural audience in the world. world.”
“Mexico Week: Day of the Dead at Rockefeller Center” will run from October 27th to November 2nd.
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