“It is a living tradition, a tradition that mutates.”įew have seen the change as clearly as Reyna García Garrido, who has sold decorations at Mexico City’s Mercado Jamaica for more than 60 years. “This is an example of how traditions change with the passing of decades and centuries,” says historian Enrique Ortiz. Officials estimate a loss of 9 billion pesos ($423 million), but a rebound this year to 2019 levels. The event took a hit in 2020, when the government banned visits to cemeteries to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In 2019, more than 800,000 people attended. Its success prompted the government to start an actual parade the following year. The film ranked among the top seven 2015 films in Mexico, according to the Cámara Nacional de la Industria Cinematográfica (National Chamber of the Cinematography Industry), which tracks the film industry. The following year, the James Bond spy movie “Spectre” showed the main character running after bad guys through a Día de Muertos parade of grim reapers and walking skeletons in Mexico City (never mind that the city didn’t hold such parades at the time). The changes started in 2014 with “The Book of Life,” an animated film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation, a United States-based production studio, about the adventures of a young Mexican man who journeys to the world of the dead. The version of the “La Catrina” skeleton depicted in the movie beat out witches and devils as the most popular costume that year for Mexican girls who went trick-or-treating. “We are adapting to a globalized world in which cultures have to be understandable.” “We no longer have much idea of what is original and what is not,” says Melissa Valles, an archeologist and historian. But in recent years, prompted by a flurry of Hollywood movies and growing international attention, the stately ritual has transformed into something of a global party - and an economic windfall. ![]() Spanish colonizers added confectionary sweets and put candles on altars to guide the dead, making the event only slightly more festive. Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a sacred Mexican tradition that dates back to pre-Hispanic times, was once a somber occasion marked by marigolds and incense - two holy days to honor and reunite with the deceased. The rows of ornate “catrinas” that lined Mexico City’s markets hinted at a cultural shift. Their white frames disappeared under frilly dresses sunken black eyes glistened with purple eye shadow. ![]() MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - Even the skeletons looked different this year.
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