Yes, they are back this weekend, the dead and not so dead, celebrating Día de los Muertos with a whole series of events at Weltmuseum Wien. After a year´s absence, fortunately the Weltmuseum opened its doors again for the festivities and exhibitions surrounding this traditional Mexican holiday. Why, you might ask, would a Mexican holiday be celebrated in Vienna, where All Soul´s Day and All Saint´s Day are the more traditional ways we commemorate our dead? I guess for the same reason we now see children in Halloween costumes trick-or-treating, or that we are all happily sipping mojitos and margaritas. Put it down to globalization. I, for one, am happy it is so.
I wrote quite a detailed blog about the background of Día de los Muertos (the day of the dead) last year, when I took part in the festivities at Semper Depot, so I will not repeat it here. I mostly want to show you some of the many photos I took last night.
The perfect venue for a Mexican party
The Weltmuseum of course seems the ideal place for such an event. Not only is it a gorgeous venue, with a large central hall flanked by marble columns; it also has a large collection of Mexican artifacts in its collections, including the famous celebrated Aztec feather headdress from the early 16th century. Apart from the celebrations they have also been having special feature tours of the Mexican collection over the past few days. I quite like how this “world museum” hosts lively workshops and tours that link the present to the past. From what was once a rather boring collection of old artefacts it has turned into a place of vibrant exhibitions that have drawn me in more than once.
A wonderful Mariachi orchestra and folk dances – what more could you want for a proper Mexican party? My only regret last night was that visitors were not allowed on the galleries to look down on the dancers and party crowd (which would have presented even more magnificent photo opportunities, but I think I got enough of a photo loot as is). And a good time was apparently had by all.
ViennaCultgram 
I love your blogs. They are informative and fun!!
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Thank you very much, Luis
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I find it interesting that this holiday is celebrated in Vienna (there wasn’t even Halloween during my childhood in Germany). Even though Colorado has a large Hispanic population, I did not know much about this holiday until my husband and I watched the animated movie, “Coco” a few years ago, which we liked a lot. If you have not seen it, I warmly recommend it.
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I became aware of this only last year (thank you Instagram!). We do have a Mexican /Latin community in Vienna, so I think that is where it came from. Halloween spread through TV, I guess. Did not exist in Austria either when I was a child. I haven’t seen Coco, will check it out when I have a chance. Thank you, Tanja
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I hope you will find and like it.
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Hi Tanja, Just wanted to tell you that I did find Coco and watched it and absolutely adored it. Thanks for the recommendation!
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I’m glad, Karin. We felt the same way, it was so well done. Thank you for letting me know.
Best,
Tanja
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