Thousands flock to Day of the Dead parade

MEXICO CITY

Thousands of people turned out on Now. 4 to watch Mexico City’s Day of the Dead parade as costumed dancers, drummers and floats took a festive turn down the Paseo de la Reforma boulevard all the way to the historic colonial main square.

There were marching bands disguised as skeletons and dancers with skull face paint performing in Indigenous costumes. The smell of traditional resinous copal incense hung heavy over the parade.

A skeleton drum group pounded out a samba-style beat, while blocks away dancers swirled long skirts painted to resemble the wings of monarch butterflies, which traditionally return to spend the winter in Mexico around the time of the Day of the Dead.

In a nod to social change, there was a contingent of drag performers costumed as “Catrinas,” skeletal dames dressed in the height of 1870s fashion.

The holiday begins Oct. 31, remembering those who died in accidents. It continues Nov. 1 to recall those who died in childhood and then on Nov. 2 celebrates those who died as adults.

The city also marks the Day of the Dead with a huge altar and holds a procession of colorful, fantastical sculptures known as “alebrijes."

Such parades were not part of traditional Day of the Dead festivities in most of Mexico, though in the southern state of Oaxaca “muerteadas” celebrations include a similar festive atmosphere.

The Hollywood-style Day of the Dead parade was adopted in 2016 by Mexico City to mimic a parade invented for the script of the 2015 James Bond movie “Spectre.”