MEXICO CITY (AP) —
Thousands of people turned out Saturday to watch Mexico City’s Day of the Dead parade, in which costumed floats, dancers and drummers took a festive walk down Paseo de la Reforma to the historic colonial Zócalo.
There were marching bands dressed as skeletons and dancers with skull makeup dancing in indigenous attire. The smell of traditional copal saturated the parade.
A child rides a float during a James Bond-inspired Day of the Dead Parade in Mexico City, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. The Hollywood-style parade was adopted in 2016 by Mexico City to imitate a march fictitious in 2015. James Bond film “Spectre”.
(Ginnette Riquelme/AP)
A group of percussionists played a samba rhythm, while blocks away dancers twirled long skirts painted like the wings of monarch butterflies, which usually return to spend the winter in Mexico around the Day of the Dead.
In recognition of social change, there was a contingent of drag performers dressed as “catrinas,” skeletal ladies dressed in 1870s fashion.
The celebration begins on October 31, when those who died in accidents are remembered. It continues on November 1 to remember those who died in childhood and November 2 celebrates those who died as adults.
Participants take part in a James Bond-inspired Day of the Dead Parade in Mexico City on Saturday, November 4, 2023.
(Ginnette Riquelme/AP)
The city also celebrates the Day of the Dead with a huge altar and organizes a procession of alebrijes, colorful and fantastic sculptures.
Such parades were not part of the tradition of Day of the Dead festivities in much of Mexico, although in the southern state of Oaxaca the “muerteadas” have a similar festive atmosphere.
The Hollywood-style Day of the Dead parade was adopted by Mexico City in 2016 to copy a fictional march featured in the 2015 James Bond film “Spectre.” In the film, the first scenes of which were filmed in Mexico City , Bond chases a villain through crowds during a parade of people dressed as skeletons and floats.
Participants take part in a Day of the Dead Parade in Mexico City, on Saturday, November 4, 2023.
(Ginnette Riquelme/AP)
After Hollywood devised a Mexican spectacle to open the film, and after millions of people saw it, Mexico designed a celebration to emulate it.
Mexico City resident Rocío Morán attended the parade wearing skeleton makeup. Morán, who runs a company that measures ratings, doesn’t worry about mixing old and new.
“It became fashionable since the James Bond movie and I think they are good because they bring economy to the city,” said Morán. “I like that. “I like progress, I like tourists coming to see this.”
Spectators take photos of a James Bond-inspired Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023.
(Ginnette Riquelme/AP)
“I believe that the Day of the Dead has always existed,” added Morán. “But now… they are marketing it… they are visualizing it… they are putting it for everyone to see.”
2023-11-05 08:30:23
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