MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Getting Ready for the 2024 Día de Muertos Festivities

Every year, Día de Muertos celebrations are held in countries up and down the Americas, bringing in vibrant colors, meals, and parades that joyously honor the deceased. In 2024, the Day of the Dead looks to be a particularly big one because the two days of the traditional holiday fall on a Friday and Saturday!

Arriving on November 1 and 2, people all over the Spanish-speaking world will be creating home alters to honor the dead, giving gifts to friends and family, and cooking up special dishes to make it a weekend to remember. Here’s a look at where the biggest celebrations look set to take place and how to get ready for the festivities.

An iconic celebration

Día de Muertos has its origins set some 3,000 years ago, with many citing it as a festival popularly enjoyed by ancient Mesoamerican cultures like the Aztecs and the Nahual. What was a summer festival celebrating the Lady of the Dead, Mictecacihuatl, was moved to November to align with the Catholic calendar once the Spanish arrived in the 16th Century.

Now, the festivities are all about celebrating those who have passed away with joy and with food, honoring the dead who are believed to return to the plains of the living on November 1 and 2. Mexico is well known for going all-out on Día de Muertos, but Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, El Salvador, and the Philippines also put on major events.

In Mexico, though, there are some easy places to pick out if you want to experience the major festival in its most colorful and joyous form. Oaxaca is famed for its celebrations, particularly in Oaxaca City. Panteón de San Miguel, a huge graveyard, gets decorated in flowers, candles, and offerings while mariachi bands play throughout the city.

Day of the Dead fun before November hits

 You don’t have to wait for the first days of November to enjoy the colors and iconography of Día de Muertos. Being a world-famous festival with such a distinct aesthetic owing to the decorated skulls, many forms of entertainment have run with it as a theme or basis of a story.

Found at the top slot sites offering cryptocurrency gaming and high odds, Muertos Multiplier Megaways stands as one of the most popular slots going. It’s a high volatility slot leaning on the Megaways mechanic that can offer up to 117,649 ways to win on any given spin. With the right symbol combinations up to 10,000x the bet can be won!

Importantly, Muertos Multiplier Megaways is all about the Day of the Dead theme, complete with colorful skulls, confetti, and delicious-looking food. On the big screen, you can also catch a dose of Día de Muertos. The classic and highly-regarded Macario from 1961 sets the scene immediately, taking place during the famed festival in Mexico.

After Macario, you could pivot into the much more recent Robert Duvall-led A Night in Old Mexico from 2014, or for a much smaller venture into the festivities, you could check out the opening sequence to Spectre and see how James Bond navigates the Mexico City parades. If you don’t fancy some media, you could always get a jump on making and decorating some sugar skulls.

Día de Muertos will once again prove to be one of the biggest celebrations of the year, and best of all, the festivities land on a Friday and Saturday in 2024!