November first is the Dia de Todos Santos or All Saints Day. It is the first of a two day celebration of the dearly departed. Some Mexicans feel that death is a special occasion, with elements of a celebration, because the soul is passing into another life. Most visit the cemeteries where their loved ones are buried and decorate their graves with offerings, which often include an orange marigold called "Flor de Muerto", Spanish for "Flower of the Dead". These flowers are thought to attract souls of the dead to the offerings. Toys are brought for dead children and bottles of tequila for adults. Offerings are also put in homes, usually with foods such as candied pumpkin, pan de muerto or sugar skulls and beverages such as atole.

The cultural center of Mazatlan is the Plaza Mechado. They held a gathering last night in honor of the Dia de Todos Santos. They had displays of both traditional and modern offerings to the dead, as well as lots of music. We arrived at 6:30 in order to get a good spot for the parade. It wasn't too crowded so we wandered around until we found a crowd gathering around a small brass band and a donkey cart full of beer kegs. This was looking like our kind of party. The number of people continued to grow and eventually the band started playing and then took off walking. Behind them came people in costume and who I assume was the queen of the dead. The crowd all of a sudden became rowdy and started to follow so of course we joined along. What we soon learned was that they weren't so much walking to be part of the parade as they were trying to get to the donkey cart that was giving away free beer! The cart would stop for about 2 minuets to pour beer and then suddenly take off to catch up with the rest of the parade. When the cart was stopped the crowd was too big to squeeze into but it didn't take us long to figure out that running along side of the cart with a cup was the best way to get a beer.
As we slowed down a bit we realized that we were being followed by more two more bands, two more beer carts and thousands of people. We slowed down some to see the other bands and of course sample the other beer carts. Whenever the crowd would stop the dancing would begin. The costume characters were amazing. How they could dance on those stilts was incredible.
After an hour and a half of wandering through the streets of Mazatlan, the parade
ended up back where it started, the Plaza Mechado. The free beer was gone but the bands were just getting started. Apparently this part of the celebration was a contest to see who could play the loudest. We finally had enough and headed back to the boat.