Past the masks
An Exploration of Dia De Los Muertos
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Past the Masks
Photos by: Mike Schwarz
In October of 2017, Michael traveled to 14 rural villages in Central Mexico to document the celebration of Dia De Los Muertos.
Through a four-day journey of lights, masks, ceremonies, family, and food - this photo essay strives to show the immense cultural depth of the centuries-old holiday.
Featured in: Passion Passport, Nailed Magazine, and The Culture-ist.
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A dancer performs La dance de los vijitos - or the dance of the elderly. It is a sign of great respect, and involves elaborate costumes, wooden shoes, and long staffs.
Students from the local university help to decorate in the Patzcuaro town square.
10/31/17 - 7:00pm - A woman with celebratory face paint walks throughout the Patzcuaro town square posing for photos with excited tourists.
10/31/17 - A girl watches awestruck as traditional dancers bound above her on stage in the Patzcuaro town square.
10/31/17 - 2:00pm - Dancers, dressed in traditional performance-wear, take a break on the side of the fountain in the Patzcuaro town square.
10/31/17 - 6:00pm - A family of tourists from Canada take a selfie in front of the marigold-clad town sign.
A woman from the neighboring town of Santa Fe helps to trim Marigolds in preparation for the festivities.
11/1/17 - Luz Marie picks marigolds behind the local church in Santa Fe.
11/1/17 - Jose Luis Doroteo and his mother tend to his grandmother's gravesite.
11/1/17 - Two woman admire the communal town memorial in the church courtyard.
11/1/17 - Karla Cortes, of San Francisco Uricho, leaves her home with a wheelbarrow of marigolds, coffee cans, and candles. Karla, her mother, and sister, take this same walk every year, and will spend the afternoon decorating several of their family member's grave stones.
11/1/17 - A vendor walks among the gravestones with hot churros.
An elaborate candle display in the Tzintzuntzan cemetery.
A woman lights the candles surrounding her loved ones’s grave with the rest of her family as the sun begins to set.
A man pauses while assembling his families gravesite with his children.
A woman sits at her families gravesite in the Tzintzuntzan cemetery.
A man relaxes next to his loved one’s gravesite in Tzurumútaro cemetery.
Decorative banners hang from the ceiling of a church in preparation for evening service
A girl plays with candles near her family's gravesite in Tzurumútaro cemetery.
11/1/17 - Children walking with their family to the cemetery hold candles and copal (traditional incense).
The moon shines above a family altar in the Tzintzuntzan cemetery.
A priest delivers his evening sermon before families depart for the cemeteries.
The moon shines brightly over the Tzurumútaro cemetery as the remaining families tend to their candles.
The trumpet player of mariachi band plays in Tzintzuntzan cemetery.
Offerings to the dead (often some of their favorite food/drink) are placed on their grave at the beginning of the night.
The empty Tzurumútaro cemetery as the sun begins to rise.
A man watches his brother work through a headstone in his family gravesite.
A family sits at their gravesite drinking and eating together late into the night. It is customary for some families to stay in the cemetery until morning.
11/2/17 - One of the last men in the cemetery says his final goodbyes as the sun comes up.
A young girl and her mother re-distribute fresh marigold petals over the top of her loved one’s gravesite.
10/31/17 - 7:00pm - A woman with celebratory face paint waits to watch a traditional performance in the Patzcuaro town square.
A mariachi band marches through the cemetery in the early morning of Dia de los Muertos.
Early-risers arrive to tend to their loved one's graves.
11/1/17 - A man carries a bag of freshly picked marigolds through the cemetery.