FESTIVAL OF LIFE AND DEAD TRADITIONS PURPOSE

The purpose of the Life and Death Traditions Festival is to achieve 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 Life and Death Traditions Festival presents: Handcraft workshops, offerings and/or altars, community or family theater, puppet theater, story-tellers, guided tours to the underworld and Xcaret´s Cemetery ''Bridge to Paradise'', a great variety of rhythms that go from the typically Mayan music mayapax to contemporary music, song, dance, rituals, folkloric ballet, classical ballet as well as contemporary dance.

In other categories, there will be visual arts in show, such as short films, historical narrative or performances, painting, sculpture, drawing and photo exhibits, besides a wide variety of gastronomic exhibits. Each event revolves around the Day of the Dead, also called Hanal Pixán, in the southeast and south of Mexico.

Since 2006, the Festival has taken place every year on November 1st and 2nd, starting at 4:00 p.m. at Xcaret, in the Riviera Maya, Mexico.