The Day of the Dead Festival
Oct 28 - 30, 2022 • 12 - 5 pm
St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery
131 E 10th St, New York, NY 10003
Celebrate our beloved Day of the Dead tradition in New York City with art-making, live music, and more.
Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) is a time to honor and revere our deceased family members and ancestors. This tradition is rooted in the native Mexican belief that life on earth is a preparation for the next world and of the importance of maintaining a strong relationship with the dead.
Celebrate the lives of family members and the community who have died. Join us and dedicate our ofrenda (altar) to your departed loved ones by placing copies of photographs, letters, notes, and names.
Schedule
Friday, October 28
12- 5 pm - Market
Mexican folk art, papel picado, sugar skulls, pan de muerto bread, and Mexican food on sale
12- 5 pm - Altar building
Join us for our traditional altar installation led by tradition bearer Danny Tepi. Members of the public assist in decorating and dedicating the ofrenda to our departed loved family members and friends.
4 pm Workshop
Saturday, October 29
12 - 5 pm - Marketplace
Mexican folk art, papel picado, sugar skulls, pan de muerto bread, and Mexican food on sale
1 - 4 pm - Workshops
Make paper flowers, decorate your Día de Muertos button, and more
3 pm - Claudia Valentina Montes (Music)
Enjoy the beautiful soulful performance
4 pm - Son Pecadores (Son Jarocho)
Enjoy the regional folk musical style of Mexican Son
Sunday, October 30
12 - 5 pm - Marketplace
Mexican folk art, papel picado, sugar skulls, pan de muerto bread, and Mexican food on sale
1-4 pm - Workshops
Make paper flowers, decorate your Día de Muertos button, and more
1 pm - Cetiliztli Nauhcampa Quetzalcoatl in Ixachitlan (music and dance)
Ceremonial performance by the indigenous community-based circle
3 pm - Linda EPO (Music)
Linda's voice represents the melting pot she was born into, blending the powerful yet coy vocals found in Mexican ranchera music with the jazz and blues influences she grew up with in New York City.
4 pm - Mariachi Real de México
Enjoy the world-renowned Mariachi music native to a region of western Mexico that includes what are today the states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Michoacán, and Colima
5 pm - Taking down the Altar & closing
Live Music • Mexican Folk Art Market • Mexican Food
This event is free and open to the public. RSVP is not required but appreciated.
The Day of the Dead at St. Mark's is outdoors, rain or shine. The scheduled activities are subject to change or cancelation if there are strong wind gusts, hail, or snow. For updates during the event, follow us on Twitter at @MexCulture.
Since 2005, We have celebrated the Day of the Dead in the East Yard of the historic St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery.
Atl Tlachinolli picture by Mari Uchida
Sugar skulls traditionally bear a person's name on the forehead. Picture by Nicky Conti
The bread of the dead or pan de muerto.
Atl Tlachinolli picture by Mari Uchida
Our past Day of the Dead celebrations.
About the Day of the Dead
DAY OF THE DEAD (Día de Muertos) has been an important celebration in Mexico since pre-Hispanic times. The Mexica (Aztecs) memorialized their dead for two months in the summer: Miccailhuitontli (for children) and Hueymicailhuitl (for adults). Spaniards introduced the Catholic calendar and moved the practice of honoring the dead to All Souls Day, celebrated on November 2nd.
The tradition is rooted in the native Mexican belief that life on earth is a preparation for the next world and of the importance of maintaining a strong relationship to the dead. During this celebration, families gather in the cemetery to welcome the souls on their annual visit home. People prepare altars with traditional ephemeral elements for the season, such as cempasúchil (marigold) flowers, copal incense, fresh pan de muerto bread, candles, papel picado, and calaveras (sugar skulls). Photographs, mementos, and favorite items used by the departed are included.
The Mexica believed that when a person died, their teyolia, or inner force, went to one of several afterworlds, depending on how they died, their social position, and their profession (not by their conduct in life). There were special afterworlds for children, warriors and women in labor, people who died by drowning, and all others. This practice still endures today, with special altars built for people who have died in accidental deaths, for deceased children, and for adults who have died a natural death. The Mexican diaspora has taken this tradition to celebrate it across borders. Mano a Mano continues this tradition by highlighting important contemporary themes and popular public figures.
Día de Muertos or Dia de los Muertos
We use the traditional name of Día de Muertos. The frequent use of Día de los Muertos in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries is a back-translation of Day of the Dead into Spanish. In Mexico, traditionally, this celebration is known as Día de Muertos.
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Thank you to our Supporters
The Day of the Dead festival is supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; Lincoln Center for the Performing Art's Latine Employee Resource Group, Mex-Am Cultural Foundation Inc.; CUNY Mexican Studies Institute; The New York Community Trust - Mosaic Network & Fund.
Additional support is provided by St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, Copalli Mexican Folk Art, and Creatives Rebuild New York.
© 2020 MexCulture