Written by Dena DaSilva

This Saturday, October 27 marks the 4th Annual Todos Somos Catrinas (We Are Catrinas) Festival and the only parade in Playa del Carmen leading up to the celebration of the well-known Mexican Holiday Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The holiday officially starts on Wednesday, October 31st and ends on Friday, November 2nd. The multi-day holiday focuses on celebrating, praying, and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebrations often include large gatherings of family and friends with loads of traditional food and drink. Many people also create shrines or altars to present flowers and offerings to those who have passed on. The offerings usually consist of the dead friend or relative's favorite foods or pan de muertos (bread of the dead). For children, generally their favorite sweets are left there. The food and bread offerings represent the souls of the dead. The essence or soul of the food and bread is believed to be consumed by the dead when they visit their loved ones. It's a beautiful tradition to honor and remember loved ones that have passed and an effort to support them on their spiritual journeys.

These elaborate traditions of the Day of the Dead have even been inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008 by UNESCO.

The significance of La Catrina

“La Catrina” or “La Calavera Garbancera,” which originated in 1913 by a Mexican cartoon illustrator named José Guadalupe Posada, has become a popular icon around the world! The image portrays an elegant female skeleton or “calavera” dressed in an early 20th century European style hat. Posada originally etched La Catrina as a satirical depiction of those Mexican natives who, he felt, were aspiring to adopt European aristocratic traditions in the pre-revolution era. She eventually became an icon of the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday.

During the celebrations of the Day of the Dead, you’ll often see many people walking around with painted skull/skeleton faces. Some are very elaborate and very beautiful and some go all out and dress in full costumes as well.

The festival and parade

The Todos Somos Catrinas art and cultural festival begins at 5PM with a cultural art exhibition in the Quinta Alegria Shopping Mall on 5th Avenue at the corner of Constituyentes. Then starting at 6PM in the Paseo del Carmen shopping plaza, the parade of Las Catrinas begins. There will be Catrina artists there if you feel like participating and transforming into an elegant Catrina and making the march up 5th.

The parade route goes up 5th Avenue to Quinta Alegria where the art exhibit is and then continues on to Plaza 28 de Julio (in front of Town Hall) where the festival begins in the open air theater at 7PM. Admission is free.

The festival and parade festivities finish at 9PM but there will be a contest of catrinas and catrines held at The Public Place (Plaza Coba) at 11PM. Prizes awarded to 1st through 3rd place in both categories and admission is free

For this edition, the image of La Catrina is the focus and the slogan of “Todos Somos Catrinas” or “We Are All Catrinas” is meant to honor a collective of women artists from Playa del Carmen that help the town celebrate the art, beauty and culture of Mexico in lavish style. This is an event not to be missed. It’s a beautiful celebration of life in honoring the dead and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in a wonderful and traditional event.