MEXICO CITY, NOV 2 (US): Foreign and Mexican tourists participating in the Day of the Dead festivities flocked to downtown Mexico City on Monday, drawn by elaborate displays of the departed.
Visitors overlook large altars decorated with chocolate skulls, fruit, and freshly cut marigolds around the Zocalo Plaza, Mexico City’s bustling main square built near the ruins of the Aztec Empire’s holiest temples.
Shrines honoring the dead at the Zocalo are part of a tradition that blends Catholic rituals with the pre-Hispanic belief that the dead return once a year from the underworld.
“There is this fear of death in people of all cultures, but here you can see them celebrate it,” said Miguel Torres, a tourist from Colombia who painted his face and lips in killer black and white.
“It’s important to get to know new cultures and see that death is a new phase that should come sooner or later for everyone.”
Altars decorated with traditional Mexican bread as well as bananas, oranges and corn contained pictures of elderly people who had passed away. Tourists posed for pictures next to giant white skulls painted in bright floral patterns.
“The skulls, the shamanic part that’s underneath it looks really deep to me, it goes to the root of the meaning of death,” said Diane Melendez, an American tourist from Colorado, according to Reuters.
“For me, it’s very emotional and I think we’re rejuvenating the indigenous culture so it doesn’t scare me.”
HF