Day of the Dead Comes to Rockefeller Center – NBC New York (47)

NEW YORK – Day of the Dead is a special celebration in Mexico that has crossed borders and is recognized by many.

New York City is not far behind and for the second consecutive year, Mexico Week: Day of the Dead will be held at Rockefeller Center from October 27 to November 2 to celebrate Mexico’s heritage and culture.

New Yorkers can participate for free in Mexican art, food, culture, music, and education organized by the Consulate General of Mexico in New York City, the Mexican Cultural Institute, the Museum of Modern Art, and Rockefeller Center.

This Day of the Dead celebration incorporates traditional and modern art from prominent Mexican artists who will be on display for the public.

The celebration will include

• An Ofrenda (an altar in honor of lost loved ones) at Center Plaza: The offering will honor modern Mexican sculptors as featured in the MONUMENTAL book: The Public Dimension of Sculpture 1927-1979 by Pedro Reyes.
• Large sculptures of Jaguar and Quetzalcóatl by César Menchaca to accompany the offer of the Center Plaza.
• The catrina sculptures (skeletal figures synonymous with the Day of the Dead): by Cesar Menchaca will be visible to all Top of the Rock ticket holders.
• An exhibition will be on display in memory of the 170th anniversary of the Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913). Presented by the Consulate General of Mexico in New York and its Institute of Culture in alliance with the Posada Art Foundation, this exhibition will be open from 19 October to 2 November at 10 Rockefeller Plaza.
• Public exhibition of the MONUMENTAL book: The public dimension of the sculpture 1927-1979, by Pedro Reyes. The exhibition will present the 383-page visual and critical history of modern sculpture in Mexico with 29 essays and 13 interviews. Organized by the Museum of Modern Art of Mexico City.

In addition to art, New Yorkers can visit a Tianguis, or open-air market, which offers authentic Mexican food, handcrafted crafts, textiles, and Casa Dragones Tequila.

The Tianguis will be open at Center Plaza from October 28th to 30th, from 11am to 10pm and from October 31st to November 2nd, from 4pm to 10pm.

MORE INFORMATION HERE.

What is the day of the dead

The Day of the Dead in the indigenous vision implies the transitory return of the souls of the dead, who return home, to the world of the living, to live with relatives and to feed on the essence of the food that is offered to them in the altars, placed in his honor. , as described by the government of Mexico page.

The page of the Government of Mexico also says: “Its origin is found in the harmony between the celebration of Catholic religious rites brought by the Spaniards and the commemoration of the Day of the Dead that the natives performed since the pre-Hispanic era; the ancient Mexica, Mixtec Texcocani, Zapotec, Tlaxcalani, Totonac and other indigenous peoples of our country, transferred the veneration of their dead to the Christian calendar, which coincided with the end of the agricultural cycle of corn, the main food crop in the country “.

“Every year many families place offerings and altars decorated with cempasúchil flowers, cut paper, sugar skulls, bread of the dead, mole or some dish that their relatives liked to which the offering is dedicated, and as in pre-Hispanic times, the ‘incense is placed to perfume the place. Similarly, the festivities include the decoration of the tombs with flowers and often the construction of altars on the tombstones, which in the indigenous era had a great significance because it was thought to help lead souls to transit for a good path after death “.