USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
World
Home / World / Americas

Day of Dead parade honors Mexican quake victims, rescuers

China Daily | Updated: 2017-10-30 07:45

Day of Dead parade honors Mexican quake victims, rescuers

A person takes part in the Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City on Saturday. Victor Cruz / AFP

MEXICO CITY - A raised fist made of helmets, pick axes and broken rubble rolled ahead of hundreds of walking skeletons, costumed dancers and flowery floats Saturday in Mexico City's Day of the Dead parade, which this year honored the 228 capital residents killed by a Sept 19 earthquake.

"Thank you, rescuers!" belted out Guadalupe Perez, 56, as she passed the sculpture, which was followed by contingents of men, women and dogs who had searched for survivors amid the rubble of collapsed buildings. The parade also honored them.

Mexico City's central Zocalo plaza was filled by the papier mache dead, skeletal Catrina figures and candle-covered shrines where people were invited to place photographs of those killed in two recent earthquakes, which together left more than 400 dead across the country.

A raised fist was the signal the rescuers gave for silence to hear if anyone was trapped under the rubble left by the most recent quake.

It "has become a national and international symbol," said parade coordinator Julio Blasina.

"We had an obligation to pay tribute to the fallen, while transmitting the message that the city is still standing."

This year's parade featured a kilometer-and-a-half of floats honoring the celebration, which is an amalgam of pre-Hispanic and other traditions. White, orange, purple and black paper cutouts covered part of the Zocalo. Beneath them were papier mache skeletons with rescue vests and helmets, symbolizing volunteers from the regions affected by the earthquakes, including Oaxaca, Chiapas, Morelos, Puebla and Guerrero. Other skeletons represented victims.

Previous 1 2 3 Next

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US