This happens every year. The UNAM's Festival Universitario del Día de Muertos and its Megaofrenda are held every autumn, around 1 and 2 November. The university announces the venue and programme in October, so confirm them before planning a visit around it.
What it is. The largest single assembly of altars in the city. The Megaofrenda was first installed in 1997 at the Faculty of Medicine and has moved venue since — Universum, the Olympic Stadium, the Rectoría esplanade, the Plaza de Santo Domingo. A typical edition runs for about six days and gathers more than forty altars plus large-scale installations of flowers and candles.
And around the altars. Theatre, dance, music and film, plus talks on the Mexican cosmology of death. Each edition takes a theme: the twentieth anniversary dedicated its offerings to the victims of the September 2017 earthquakes and marked sixty years since the death of Diego Rivera.
Why go to this one rather than another. Because it is built by students and faculties rather than by a production company, which means the altars are enormously varied and often unorthodox — and because it is free.
Practical notes. Entry is free. Go in the late afternoon or evening, when the candles are lit. Take a camera and wear comfortable shoes; costumes are welcome. Check the current venue before setting out.
in the evening or at night
Centro Histórico, Centro, Ciudad de México, CDMX 06000
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