Mexico celebrated the Day of the Dead with a lavish parade

Mexico celebrated the Day of the Dead with a lavish parade in the capital of the same name, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.

Thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday to watch the procession, which featured masked dancers, musicians and platforms with various festival characters.

They walked along Paseo de la Reforma, reaching the historic central square of the city.

The parade included dancers disguised as skeletons, with painted skulls on their faces, as well as costumes typical of the indigenous people. The smell of copal resin incense wafted along the parade route.

A group of skeleton drummers played samba, and meters away, dancers twirled their long skirts in colors similar to the wings of monarch butterflies, which traditionally return to Mexico around the Day of the Dead to spend the winter in the country.

There were participants dressed in multicolored “Catrini” dresses, resembling a famous skeleton heroine created by José Guadalupe Posada in 1910.

Celebrations in Mexico begin on October 31, when the memory of the victims of accidents is honored. They continue on November 1, when families remember those who died in childhood, and November 2 is the memorial for the rest of the dead, the Associated Press recalls. Then there’s the now-traditional Day of the Dead parade.

Such parades are not part of the traditional celebration of the Day of the Dead in most of the country, although in the southern state of Oaxaca, celebrations known as “muerteadas” include a similar atmosphere, the Associated Press noted.

In the Mexican capital, the parade dates back to the 2015 filming of the James Bond film Spectre, with the first scenes of the film being filmed in Mexico City. In the production, Agent 007 chases a villain through crowds of revelers during a procession of people in skeleton costumes and moving platforms. The success of the production has led local authorities to hold a similar parade every year since 2016.