DIA DE LOS MUERTOS / DAY OF THE DEAD 2023
We're thrilled to announce the return of our annual multi-day Día de los Muertos celebration for 2023. After months of uncertainty and numerous moments of adversity, we are beyond delighted to confirm that we will once again be able to come together to celebrate, honour, and pay tribute this year.
For 15 years, we have proudly offered this event free of charge to our community. In 2023—faced with difficult and heartbreaking financial challenges and limitations affecting artist spaces in Toronto—we turn to you with a request for assistance. Help us sustain the quality of the celebration and keep the vibrant, deeply rooted, and meaningful spirit of Día de Los Muertos alive by, for the first time in our history, making a nominal contribution to cover our costs by purchasing an entry ticket to the main celebration at the Wychwood Barns on October 28, 2023.
Your support means the world to us, and we hope you understand our request. Your contribution will help us cover essential expenses, support our artists, and maintain the respectfully festive spirit that makes Día de los Muertos so special.
CEREMONY & MAIN CELEBRATION
OCT 28, 2023, 4-10pm
Artscape Wychwood Barns
601 Christie Street
$10 SUGGESTED CONTRIBUTION
SENIORS AND CHILDREN FREE
LIMITED CAPACITY
Please note: Online tickets sales have ended but will be available at the door, cash, debit or credit card payments will be accepted.
FEATURING:
Smudging by Maya K'iche Elder Bártolo Alvárez, Aztec Dance Circle Ceremony, Altars, Music, Art Installations, First Nations Drum Circle & Dance, Traditional Funeral Procession, Performances, arts and crafts at the market and more!
A Special Tribute to Elders and Seniors
This year’s celebration would like to highlight the debt of gratitude we all have to our elders. We acknowledge their experience, wisdom, and guidance and thank all those who have walked this Earth for many years for all they can and do share with us. We are better because of you.
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, Latin World, 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
Teatro Para Vivos
NOVEMBER 4-5
Casa Maíz Cultural Centre
1280 Finch Avenue W. #204
FREE ADMISSION / LIMITED CAPACITY
At a time when our society seems plagued by indifference, it is essential to create spaces for creative expressions that are dedicated to the promotion of human rights and social justice, all while keeping alive the legacy and traditions of peoples and nations. Teatro para Vivos offers a selection of short presentations and dances that adhere to these traits
PRESENTING
MEMORIAS by Grupo Teatro Libre and LOS INVISIBLES Performers and Creators Alexander Herrera y Falciony Patiño
VIRTUAL ALTAR
The Virtual Altar is a dedicated online space that features photographs of personal ofrendas from the community.
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.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
FUNDED BY:
SPONSORS:
SUPPORT:
Cover: design in loving memory of Alberto Cruz, Character design by Alberto Cruz.