The Festival of Life and Death Traditions is a very special event created to promote the involvement of society, groups and independent artists to incorporate cultural richness and diversity into the Day of the Dead celebration by recapturing ethnic, traditional and contemporary practices that revolve around this millennial and beautiful Mexican tradition which has been declared a masterpiece of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity by the UNESCO.

The Festival of Life and Death Traditions presents: Workshops, handcrafts, offerings and/or altars, regional as well as children’s and puppet theater, story-tellers, tours to the underworld and Xcaret´s Cemetery “Bridge to Paradise”, parades and interactive activities, the ball game and a great variety of rhythms that include music rituals, different approaches to folkloric ballet, Pre-Hispanic dances as well as contemporary dance and acrobatics.

In other categories, there will be visual arts such as short films, feature films, painting and photo exhibits, besides a wide variety of gastronomic exhibits, a chocolate workshop, and temascal sessions among many other unforgettable activities.

This year the program includes Gala concerts by Lila Downs and Jaramar.

The Festival of Life and Death Traditions is a patchwork of color, music and tradition with an extraordinary and greatly varied program of activities for children, young people and adults, all revolving around the Day of the Dead or Hanal Pixán in the Mayan world. This year Playa del Carmen will join in for the celebration on November 3rd at Parque La Ceiba and November 4th at the Caracol Marino Cultural Center.

Every story has an end, but in life every ending is just a new beginning. Let´s celebrate life at Xcaret.