Traditional altars, Mexican food and live folk performances will fill the ground floor of Soho City Center on Saturday, October 31, when Mexico’s embassy holds its sixth Día de Muertos festival in Panama.
The event runs from noon to 8 p.m., with free admission for the general public, according to the embassy’s invitation reported by TVN.
The announced programme includes an altar exhibition, Mexican gastronomy, handicrafts and small businesses, alongside live music and folkloric dance. Competitions for catrina and catrín costumes will also form part of the celebration.
The festival offers visitors a way to explore the meaning behind the colourful imagery associated with Mexico’s remembrance traditions.
Día de Muertos centres on relationships with deceased relatives and loved ones. In the Indigenous practices described by UNESCO, families prepare offerings that can include favourite dishes, flowers, candles and decorative paper cut-outs.
These preparations welcome the temporary return of departed loved ones and connect family remembrance with community life. The traditions combine Indigenous beliefs with Catholic observances introduced during the colonial period.
UNESCO inscribed Mexico’s Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.
The Panama festival takes place on October 31, within the broader season of commemorations spanning late October and early November.
Visitors can explore the altar displays and cultural performances during the advertised opening hours. Entry is free; the announcement does not state that food or merchandise will be complimentary.
Individual performance times and conditions for entering the costume competitions were not included in the published programme reviewed.
Sources: TVN, Embassy of Mexico
