DIA DE LOS MUERTOS / DAY OF THE DEAD 2024
The Toronto Día de los Muertos Collective, in partnership with Casa Maíz Cultural Centre, is thrilled to announce our traditional annual multi-day Día de los Muertos celebration for 2024. Join us between October 24 and November 3, 2024, as we gather to honour deeply rooted traditions, celebrate life, and remember those who have passed into the realm beyond.
Our Main Celebration will happen on Saturday October 26th from 3:30pm to 10pm at Wychwood Barns. Experience meaningful ceremony, captivating performances, original artwork, and traditional food—we genuinely cannot wait to create another momentous and memorable Día de los Muertos Celebration with and alongside you. We invite young children and seniors to enter Barns free of charge. Please note that, due to the event's popularity, which we hope will continue unabated, we have again secured a legal-capacity venue, and access will be subject to the venue's capacity.
On November 2nd and 3rd, Casa Maíz Cultural Centre and Grupo Teatro Libre will host Teatro para Vivos Programming through a series of theatre and dance performances. These events will explore the themes of Día de los Muertos, reflecting on life, death, and remembrance through dynamic storytelling, choreography, and visual artistry. We invite everyone to join in this unique artistic expression, which serves as a profound extension of the Día de los Muertos celebrations.
Stay tuned for more programming details and information.
CEREMONY & MAIN CELEBRATION
OCT 26, 2024, 3:30-10pm
Artscape Wychwood Barns
601 Christie Street
$10 SUGGESTED CONTRIBUTION
SENIORS AND CHILDREN FREE
LIMITED CAPACITY
In memory of Maya K'iche Elder Bártolo Alvárez (Tata Bártolo)
We dedicate the 2024 Celebration to our beloved Tata Bártolo, honouring throughout, as well as creating a special ofrenda in his name and memory. The public is also invited to pay their respects to Tata Bártolo at a dedicated altar at the Textile Museum of Canada between October 24 and November 22.
EXPLORE OUTSIDE
While the interior of the Wychwood Barns has capacity limitations we must uphold, our Main Celebration—as you have come to love it—extends to external spaces as well. Whether you’re waiting for (re)entry or simply want to get a sense of the extent of the celebration as a whole, we invite you to explore the green and built spaces immediately surrounding the Barns. Ceremony, art installation, altars, community, and culinary delights await you there!
The areas below are located just outside the Wychwood Barns and do not require any admission contribution.
MICTLAN
This is the "underworld", where all the ofrendas are placed, calling to the spirits of our loved ones. We share the joy of life with food, cigarettes, toys or anything that used to be part of the person commemorated on the altar.
FOOD MARKET
Explore delicious food, reconnect with vendors from previous celebrations, and discover new additions that will enrich your Día de los Muertos experience.
Food vendors include: Panchos Bakery, Rebozos Inc, Mad Mexican, Chocosol, El Sazón Mexicano, and Tacos Don Tito.
CUICACALLI
In Aztec tradition, the Cuicacalli is the school of song and poetry. This space is a living altar for artists and community to make an offering through their artistic expression such as poetry, song, painting, performance, and more.
THEATRE AND DANCE
Teatro Para Vivos
NOVEMBER 2-3
Saturday Nov 2 at 4:00 PM and 7:00PM
Sunday Nov 3 at 2:00 PM
Casa Maíz Cultural Centre
1280 Finch Avenue W. #204
$10 SUGGESTED CONTRIBUTION
Through a series of theatre and dance performances. These events will explore the themes of Día de los Muertos, reflecting on life, death, and remembrance through dynamic storytelling, choreography, and visual artistry. We invite everyone to join in this unique artistic expression, which serves as a profound extension of the Día de los Muertos celebrations.
Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is a unique Mexican celebration that was declared part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2003. Mixing the solemn with the festive, the folkloric with the sacred, it acknowledges death’s universality and emphasizes the constant and inevitable interweaving of life and death.
The current moment—marked by war, sustained racial and gender violence, accelerated environmental destruction, and the effects of a global pandemic—invites the careful consideration of life’s fragility, especially in relation to long-standing systemic inequities. In light of this reality, the Día de los Muertos Collective deems the gathering of community—to celebrate life, honour the dead, and recognize the profound connections between the two—as a universal and essential need.
As always, “community” here includes not only those of Mexican, Latinx, or Indigenous heritage. While Day of the Dead is deeply rooted in Mexican culture and history, the Collective considers the celebrations to be of Tkaronto/Toronto: anyone interested in understanding and honouring these traditions forms part of the community that brings the festivities to life.
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