For the past two days, people in Mexico and other Latin American countries have been celebrating Día de Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, paying homage to departed family members and honoring death as a part of life. After many cancellations last year due to the pandemic, this year parades and processions took place once again in Mexico City and other towns. The parades feature representations of the character La Catrina, frightful skeletons, and other icons of death and the underworld. Gathered here are a few images from Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, El Salvador, and more.
Celebrating the Day of the Dead, 2021
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A woman dressed as La Catrina participates in a parade during the Day of The Dead festival in Guanajuato, Mexico, on November 1, 2021. Considered one of the most popular celebrations in Mexico, the Day of the Dead takes place every year on November 1 and 2. #
Leopoldo Smith / Getty -
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Relatives spend the night next to the tomb of their loved one during Day of the Dead festivities at the the Arocutín cemetery in Michoacan state, Mexico, on November 1, 2021. In a tradition that coincides with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, families decorate the graves of departed relatives with flowers and candles, and spend the night in the cemetery, eating and drinking as they keep company with their deceased loved ones. #
Eduardo Verdugo / AP -
A giant cardboard skull and skeletal hand are displayed in a street in the Santa Cecilia neighborhood of Mexico City, ahead of the Day of the Dead celebrations, on October 30, 2021. #
Claudio Cruz / AFP / Getty -
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People prepare to fly a giant kite during the All Saints' Day commemoration, on the eve of the Day of the Dead, in Santiago Sacatepéquez, about 30 miles west of Guatemala City, on November 1, 2021. #
Johan Ordonez / AFP / Getty -
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Family members pose for a picture next to an altar with the image of Henry Zevallos, who died from COVID-19, on the eve of the Day of the Dead, in Puno, southern Peru, on November 1, 2021. Every November 1, the ancestral custom of the so-called Tómbola is carried out in the city, through offerings to deceased relatives, with a table of the various dishes that were their favorites in life. #
Carlos Mamani / AFP / Getty -
A reveler looks on during "La Calabiuza" celebrations in Tonacatepeque, El Salvador, on November 1, 2021. "La Calabiuza," also known as Day of Ayote, has been celebrated every year in Tonacatepeque for more than a century. #
Roque Alvarenga / APHOTOGRAFIA / Getty -
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Two performers dressed as the Mexican wrestling legends "El Santo" and "Blue Demon" perform during the annual Day of the Dead parade on October 31, 2021, in Mexico City. #
Adrián Monroy / Medios y Media / Getty -
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Devotees walk into the sea with figures of Santa Muerte during a gratitude ceremony for favors received at the beach of Puerto Juárez in Cancún, Mexico, on November 1, 2021. #
Elizabeth Ruiz / AFP / Getty -
A woman collects cempasúchil marigolds to be used during Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations at San Luis Tlaxialtemalco nursery, in Xochimilco, on the outskirts of Mexico City, on October 28, 2021. #
Edgard Garrido / Reuters -
Women pose for a picture during the exhibition "Fridacráneos," consisting of giant skulls painted in honor of the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and exhibited as part of the Day of the Dead celebrations at the Revolution Monument in Mexico City on October 29, 2021. #
Claudio Cruz / AFP / Getty -
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A musician walks in the Valle de Chalco municipal cemetery as people begin to arrive to pay their respects to their dead, on the outskirts of Mexico City, on October 31. 2021. #
Foto AP / Marco Ugarte / AP -
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