Azul Díaz Rentería

The First-Ever Festival de la Catrina

There have always been local events to mark Day of the Dead here. Most have typically been traditional, focused on decorating altars dedicated to people who have passed on and honoring their memory. These celebrations have been mostly personal and community-oriented, especially when friends and family members meet at the cemetery. Recently though, Halloween trick-or-treating and surfers dressing up as Catrinas have started new traditions to celebrate the spirit of the season. This year, there’s a new way to celebrate along our coast, a festival that includes every tradition and every village. Day of the Dead. What to do? Where to go? How can we get involved? Those are questions that come up every year around this time, but now there’s a new local hospitality coalition that’s created three festivals to meet one shared need.