Mexico’s Day of the Dead is gaining in global notoriety in recent years. Mexican and international media is ‘bigging-it-up’ to the world. It’s been on our radar over the last couple of years as we’ve travelled up through South and Central America. This year, we’ve reached Mérida, Yucatan at just the right time. Day of the Dead Mérida is marketing itself as a tourist destination city for the event. We’re excited to be here, but it actually turns out to be not entirely what we expect. First, we learn how that James Bond chap has a lot to answer for. And secondly, we find it something of an Emperor’s New Clothes experience.

Bond… James Bond

Day of the Dead celebrations are a combination of traditions from both the indigenous and the Spanish Catholic cultures. It has been celebrated for many generations all over Mexico by small, close-knit family get-togethers fondly remembering departed relatives. They gather intimately around gravestones in cemeteries or around temporary remembrance ‘altars’ lovingly created in their homes. It’s a peaceful and happy time, reminiscing with joy and with ceremonial foods.  Or at least it was until 007 came to town.

The opening scenes of Spectre show Daniel Craig chasing a baddie through a Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City. Quite where the writers got the idea for this scene isn’t entirely clear, but what is clear is that these parades were Bond-style cinematic embellishments and hadn’t previously taken place. It looked good though, on the screen. So good, that the chaps at Mexico City Tourism Authority thought they’d give it a whirl…. create the ‘parade-that-wasn’t’.

In 2016 they staged the first Day of the Dead parade through Mexico City. Now in 2018 they’re having the third parade and it continues to go down well with locals and visitors alike, so it’ll probably be a ‘thing’ from now on.

Hanal Pixan

Here in Mérida it’s not technically a ‘Day of the Dead’ celebration. Here, the Yucatan Mayans celebrate Hanal Pixan. The traditions are subtly different from Day of the Dead, but to the casual observer it looks remarkably similar.  Death is recognised as a natural part of human experience, with continuity from birth, childhood, and adulthood. For Hanal Pixan, the dead become part of the community again, awakened from their sleep to share celebrations with their loved ones.

Like Mexico City, Mérida’s tourism authority is keen to capitalise on the potential and sells itself as a key location to witness and participate in the ‘Paseo de Animas’ (Parade of Souls). It’s a “must-see event” the publicity gushes… “The Mayor leads the procession… some 50,000 spectators are expected and over 300 altars will line the streets”. Huge posters are raised all over town, leaflets are handed out and a taxi driver tells us excitedly how he will be taking his family to see the extravaganza. We’re impressed and now looking forward to it more than ever.

On the night, we arrive in town as the streets are filling up. Stall holders are setting up with traditional foods. Queues are forming at face-painting stands with people waiting to be transformed. To get into the ‘spirit’ of things, we do the face-paint thing and we look rather fine with our make-up, even if we do say so ourselves 😊. With our ‘new look’, we mingle with the crowds. We chat to the locals around the various altars and learn about the symbolism of each aspect of the shrine. The face-painting is popular, but some people are in fabulous full costumes, unable to walk far without being stopped for photos. Half an hour before it’s due to start, we find ourselves a place in the grandstand seating erected along the procession route. Not long to go now…

The publicised 18:30 hrs start-time comes and goes, as does 19:00hrs, then 19:30hrs, then 20:00hrs. Our bums are getting numb on the hard plank-seats. A local lady sitting to our left is getting angry and struggling to manage her understandably impatient grandchildren… “Our Mayor is meant to be leading this” she tells me… “he ought to set a better example to the town than starting two hours late…”. She has a point.

The Emperor’s New Clothes

Finally, some two hours after the advertised time… music starts and a vehicle appears in the distance, creeping forward in a mist of pink theatrical smoke. Excitement is mounting. Behind the vehicle is the Mayor and some ethereal looking children, carrying candles, peer out of the smoke in their costumes. Behind them we can make out some rows of adults similarly dressed-up, but we can’t quite make out the floats in the smoke behind them… The crowd cheers and leans forward, straining to see the approaching parade, but we now interrupt this broadcast to bring you Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes.

The story briefly goes that an Emperor wants fine new robes to parade for all to marvel. The tailors make no robes, but convince the town that anyone who can’t see the finery is unfit for their position. On parade day the Emperor proudly struts-out to great fanfare. How regal he looks in his robes! Cheers and applause ripple through the crowds… until a small boy loudly declares… “The Emperor isn’t wearing any clothes!”

And here’s how we saw ‘Day of the Dead Mérida style’… the reason we couldn’t quite make out the floats behind the people in the smoke, is that there weren’t any. Not only were there no floats, there was no more parade. The whole ‘parade’, for which there had been so much publicity and anticipation and for which everyone had waited for over two hours on bum-numbing grandstand benches, was literally just a few rows of dressed-up people, shuffling past with some candles, shrouded in smoke. In less than two minutes, it had passed!

A few people looked around in amazement, but most just shrugged their collective shoulders and wandered away to the food stalls and to continue partying in the streets. I, on the other hand, was uncharacteristically lost for words. Parade???? Uh?? Where’s the floats? Where’s the procession… like Daniel Craig had in Spectre? I wanted to shout like the little boy at the Emperor… “That’s not a parade!!” Everyone was so wrapped-up in the pre-event media publicity, getting dressed-up, taking selfies for Facebook and generally being swept along by the excitement of the day, that they really didn’t notice (or care) that the symbolic ‘Emperor’ had no clothes!!

If you can’t beat them…         

Oh well… that’s that then!  If there’s no parade to watch, we can just enjoy the vibe. And it is indeed a really great vibe. So many fabulous made-up faces and costumes. The atmosphere is a lovely combination of celebration and peace. Much jollity and good humour, but amongst it all, a certain feeling of calm. Crowds, but no rowdiness. Old people sit amongst younger relatives and reminisce by the altars (or shrines) that they have created outside their homes. With hindsight, maybe we had set our expectations too high. Maybe our ‘Emperor’ never intended to show-off any fine new robes… maybe he just wanted everyone to turn out to a street party. It was a bit of a disappointment, but we nevertheless had fun.

Thank you, Mérida for a fascinating evening, for interesting food, for entertaining people, for beautifully created altars and for showing us a new approach to the celebration of death.

Mérida – Day of the Dead Photos