Just when you thought the Day of the Dead festivities were over, the celebration continues in Mexico City with the historic center flower festival.

Streets and businesses downtown will be dressed up in the vivid yellows and oranges of marigolds and other colorful flowers from Thursday until Sunday.

Visitors can enjoy the floral decorations of around 100 installations and arrangements in over 45 commercial establishments.

There are also 11 giant installations that will highlight the historical importance of downtown Mexico City.

Known informally as “the street of the brides” for its high concentration of bridal shops, República de Chile street hosts a colossal catrina wearing a white wedding gown.

Outside the Templo Mayor, on the northeast side of the zócalo, there is a tzompantli, a pre-Hispanic altar consisting of a wall of skulls. In Mesoamerica, the heads of the sacrificed were placed on the altar while still bloody. But don’t worry, these skulls are decorative only.

The Plaza de Gante hosts a tribute to the seasonal snack pan de muerto (bread of the dead), and a life-size recreation of Diego Rivera’s mural Dream of a Sunday afternoon in the Alameda stands in front of the monument to Benito Juárez in Alameda Park.

There is still time to visit the mega-altars as well. In the zócalo, the Mexico City mega-altar represents Day of the Dead celebrations in four different regions in the country.

The altar created by the National Autonomous University (UNAM) pays homage to the Revolutionary War hero Emiliano Zapata on the 100th anniversary of his death. It is located in the Plaza de Santo Domingo, five blocks north of the zócalo.

Keep an eye out for the open-topped double-decker Turibús buses that roam the downtown district. During the flower festival they will offer free trips along the festival route beginning at 9:00am.

Source: El Universal (sp)