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- Giant kites (barriletes gigantes) — Towering, intricate kites launched in and around cemetery slopes to “talk” to the dead. The craftsmanship is wild: teams spend weeks painting elaborate scenes and messages on huge tissue-paper kites, then hoist them until they fill the sky. It’s equal parts art, ritual and neighborhood competition, and my personal favorite for sheer spectacle and color.
- Graveyard picnics and offerings — Families clean and decorate graves, then settle down with food, music and stories right at the cemetery. It’s not solemn silence but a loud, warm reunion: candles, photos, marigolds and favorite dishes of the departed spread out like a communal meal.
- Fiambre and special festival foods — A culinary highlight you won’t taste any other time: fiambre, a complex cold salad
- Giant kites (barriletes gigantes) — Towering, intricate kites launched in and around cemetery slopes to “talk” to the dead. The craftsmanship is wild: teams spend weeks painting elaborate scenes and messages on huge tissue-paper kites, then hoist them until they fill the sky. It’s equal parts art, ritual and neighborhood competition, and my personal favorite for sheer spectacle and color.
- Graveyard picnics and offerings — Families clean and decorate graves, then settle down with food, music and stories right at the cemetery. It’s not solemn silence but a loud, warm reunion: candles, photos, marigolds and favorite dishes of the departed spread out like a communal meal.
- Fiambre and special festival foods — A culinary highlight you won’t taste any other time: fiambre, a complex cold salad made from dozens of ingredients, plus tamales, sweet breads and atoles. Food prep is a family craft passed down generations; sharing it at the grave is part memory, part celebration.
- Marimba and live music — The deep wooden marimba, brass bands and local singers turn cemeteries and plazas into lively music venues. The sound is a backbone to the day — sometimes mournful, often upbeat — and it pulls everyone into the moment, dancing or reminiscing.
- Candles, lanterns and the night of lights — After dark the cemeteries glow with thousands of candles and paper lanterns. Walking between graves with flickering lights and floral displays is quietly moving; from a distance cemeteries look like islands of warmth in the night.
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Hi, I’m Johan (Netherlands 🇳🇱), the creator of TakeYourBackpack. Over the past decade, I’ve backpacked through 80+ countries across six continents, gaining extensive experience with independent travel, long-term trips, and overland routes.