Giant skeletons are bursting through the streets of Mexico City as it kicks off Day of the Dead cele
- Huge skeletons appear to be erupting through streets in Mexico City's Tláhuac neighborhood for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
- The skeletons took a year to make, according to Riviera Maya News, and are meant to encourage Mexican cultural preservation and identity.
- The sculptures could remain if the weather cooperates.
- The undead installation comes amid concerns Día de los Muertos is being turned into a commercial holiday, just like Cinco de Mayo.
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Something big is rising from the streets of Mexico City.
Giant skeleton sculptures have appeared on a street in the Mexican capital's Tláhuac neighborhood, and they look like they're bursting right through the asphalt.
Built by local artisans ahead of Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos in Spanish) celebrations, Riviera Maya News reports this is the eighth year the skeletons have appeared.
The outlet says the undead denizens – measuring more than 11 feet wide and almost seven feet high – erupted through Calle Francisco Santiago Borraz (Francisco Santiago Borraz Street) after taking about a year to get there.
Made from cardboard and salvaged materials from a nearby construciton site, the sculptures were reportedly conceived by Radmundo Medina as a way to encourage cultural preservation and identity, particularly among children.
Brenda Lozano, a member of the artistic team that helped bring the skeletons to "life," told Riviera Maya News the skeletons took two days just to assemble, and despite the rubble all around them are not emerging from potholes, but merely look that way due to how the salvaged rubble was placed around their bony extremities.
Lozano also said that the skeletons could remain for some time if the weather remains decent (read: not rainy).
As Tom Murray wrote for Insider last year, Día de Muertos dates back to the Aztecs, and marks a celebration of dead loved ones.
From October 31 to November 2, people play music at cemeteries, dress in ornate, colorful costumes, and make flower-adorned altars to honour the souls of departed family members, whose spirits they believe return to Earth during this time.
An important symbol of Mexican culture, it is not related to Halloween, even though it is celebrated around the same time.
However, this year's celebrations come amid concerns by some that Día de Muertos is being co-opted by corporations into an excuse to party and spend money.
The Guardian compared the celebration to Cinco de Mayo, a date celebrated throughout the US and elsewhere at restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, but barely marked in Mexico.
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