Dia de los Muertos in Austin on Sunday: Free Altars at the MACC and Waterloo Greenway, and a Free Sunday at Mexic-Arte
Halloween ends tonight; the quieter holiday follows on Sunday, November 1. Four Austin observances, three of them free - and the clocks fall back first, so Sunday starts an hour earlier.
Austin's Dia de los Muertos observances land on Sunday, November 1 this year - the day after Halloween, and the morning the clocks fall back. The big parade, Viva La Vida, was October 24; Sunday is the quieter part of the holiday: altars, photographs and candles on the days it is traditionally observed, November 1 and 2.
The afternoon starts at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, which calls the day its biggest event of the year: a free celebration from 1 to 6 p.m. with community altars visitors can add names and notes to, sugar-skull decorating and face-painting workshops, food trucks and an artisan market. No RSVP is required.
Downtown, Mexic-Arte Museum is free on Sundays as it is every Sunday, open noon to 5 p.m. with its exhibition 'Dia de los Muertos: Coleccionando Memorias,' running through January 3. The evening belongs to Waterloo Greenway: a free celebration at Moody Amphitheater from 4 to 8 p.m., with a main ofrenda visitors may add photos and mementos to, a pet altar, and a stage schedule that runs from the Akins High School mariachis at 4 through Mariachi Corazon de Tejas at 5, Danza Azteca Guadalupana at 6 and Ballet Folklorico Maricruz at 7. The altars stay up through Monday, November 2.
The one ticketed option overlaps the evening: Ballet Folklorico de Austin performs at the Long Center at 5 p.m., with dances from the regions of Oaxaca and an onstage ofrenda attendees can add a photo to before the show - and everyone, children included, needs a ticket. The workable order from the guides is the museum first, the MACC in the afternoon, and Moody Amphitheater for the evening.
