Mexico comes alive during annual Day of the Dead celebrations

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Bright orange marigolds, glowing candles and faces painted like the elegant skeletons known as catrinas fill the streets of Mexico every year during the country's Day of the Dead celebrations.

Festivities begin in October and lead up to Nov. 1 and 2, when the souls of deceased loved ones are believed to temporarily return to earth to reunite with their families.

No one knows when the first observance took place, but it is rooted in agriculture-related beliefs from Mexico’s pre-Hispanic era. Catholic traditions were incorporated into the celebration after the Spanish conquest in 1521.

Today, celebrations are marked by massive parades running along Mexico City's main avenue. Streets, businesses and markets are cloaked in orange Mexican marigold flowers, or cempasuchil, believed to light the path of the dead back to earth with their bright colors. Traditional pan de muerto, or bread of the dead, lines the display cases of bakeries.

Families decorate altars to their loved ones in their homes, placing treats, food and mezcal as offerings next to photos of their loved ones.

On the night of Nov. 1, families gather at cemeteries across the country to reconnect with their dead just as their ancestors have done for centuries.

But as the tradition and the Mexican capital have increasingly gained an international spotlight, and states like Oaxaca and Michoacan have seen an influx of tourists, some regions have experienced tensions around overtourism.

In Mexico City, many locals are skeptical of an annual parade featuring floats decorated with catrinas. The procession was created for the 2015 James Bond film “Spectre” and later incorporated into the city’s celebrations, though it was not previously part of the tradition.

In Janitzio, a small island on a lake in the central state of Michoacan, where celebrations were recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008, authorities closed the pantheon to tourists for the first time this year. The closure came after the island's community council reported the collapse of damaged tombs, crosses and parts of the cemetery's perimeter wall because of the flood of people.

Only local families and friends of those buried there would be allowed in.

Children dressed as Mexico's iconic "Catrinas" sit aboard a boat decorated as a floating altar during Day of the Dead celebrations in Sisal, Mexico, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Zetina)

People with skull makeup march during the Paseo de las Animas parade as part of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Merida, Mexico, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Zetina)

People in traditional dress, some with skull makeup, march during the Paseo de las Animas parade as part of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Merida, Mexico, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Zetina)

People with skull makeup march during the Paseo de las Animas parade as part of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Merida, Mexico, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Zetina)

People with skull makeup march during the Paseo de las Animas parade as part of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Merida, Mexico, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Zetina)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Saturday told the basketball teams from his alma mater, Villanova, and fellow Catholic university Notre Dame — in Rome for their season opener — that in matters of sport, the pontiff is neutral.

Then the pope, who was born Robert Prevost, said his former self might disagree.

“Prevost has another opinion, but we won’t do that now,” he said to laughs during a whooping, cheering audience of 7,000 people from both schools — players, coaches, fans and their families — in the Vatican audience hall.

The teams were in town for the U.S. college basketball season opener in Rome. The Villanova and Notre Dame men’s and women’s teams will play a doubleheader on Sunday at the 11,000-seat Palazzo dello Sport, about a half-hour drive from the Vatican.

The event has been dubbed the Eternal City Tip-Off and was created to honor the first American pope.

The audience had been up in the air after the 71-year-old pope underwent lung cancer surgery on Oct. 13 and is still recovering. But Leo kept the appointment ahead of Sunday’s opener.

Leo graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Villanova, the Augustinian school near Philadelphia. He was born in Chicago — not all that far from Notre Dame, which is located in South Bend, Indiana.

Leo, an avid sports fan and tennis player, dribbled a golden basketball presented to him by the Villanova women’s team. And when the towering players from Notre Dame presented him with a jersey and another golden ball, Leo stepped up to the podium where his chair sits to try to gain a few inches (centimeters) on them.

He gamely posed for a photo with the Fighting Irish, holding the banner they gave him “Pope Leo, Play like a champion today” — a riff on the famous Notre Dame sign at the university stairwell between the locker room and the stadium.

But he gave the Wildcats equal time, making the Villanova "V'" gesture with his hand as chants of “Let’s Go 'Nova” erupted in the audience hall.

After mistakenly starting out in Italian, Leo switched to his mother-tongue English and spoke off the cuff recalling that in his native Chicago, he grew up hearing “Go Irish,” the Notre Dame chant.

“But as you all know, Prevost graduated from Villanova,” Leo said referring to his past self in the third person.

“So the pope doesn’t take sides,” he said to laughs, before revealing that “Prevost has another opinion."

In his prepared remarks to the crowd, Leo urged the teams and their families to embrace sports as a way to grow in saintliness.

“No one is born a champion, just as no one is born a saint,” Leo said.

He warned against letting sporting rivalries get out of hand and he said he hoped the fans in Rome this weekend would actually get to know one another as they cheer, “even passionately.”

“In any competition, the members of two teams, even when they have a competitive rivalry, are certainly not enemies,” he said. “I hope, therefore, that despite the competitive nature of college basketball, there will be opportunities for the players and the fans of both teams to get to know each other in your days here in Rome.”

He noted that the game will take place on All Saint’s Day, and that the church teaches Christians to pursue saintliness in every aspect of their lives, including in sports.

“Our true goal, beyond emerging victorious in any one event, is to win the prize of everlasting life,” he said.

Like popes before him, Leo has praised the value of sport for both physical and spiritual development, calling sport a “school of fraternity” that nurtures friendship, respect and teamwork. But he also warned about how the win-at-all-cost mentality of sport has contributed to episodes of doping, match-fixing and other forms of corruption.

The Rev. Robert Dowd, president of Notre Dame, acknowledged Villanova had something of an edge in Sunday’s game, considering it counts the pope as an alumnus. But in an interview Saturday, he said the occasion to bring both teams together with all their fans in Rome for a papal audience and season opener was “amazing.”

“I know that the pope is a pope for all of us, and so I’m grateful,” he said. “I know in a particular way the pope talks about the importance of bridge building, and I’m sure he’ll be a bridge builder when we play each other.”

Villanova’s president, the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, said there was “a little extra pride” being with Leo, given his allegiance. But he said what happens on Sunday was not the point.

“No matter what happens on the court, this is the true highlight of the trip,” he said in his introductory remarks to the the audience. “Tomorrow we will cheer, we will compete, but today we are simply grateful.”

Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Perez celebrated a private Mass for traveling fans in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday morning, and asked the thousands of people in the pews to give a round of applause to the players. The English-language liturgy was unusual in that it had all the trappings of a papal Mass celebrated at the main altar and televised live by Vatican Media.

Leo is an avid Chicago White Sox fan, and has been known to follow basketball, too.

Asked about the upcoming games on the papal plane during a recent trip to France, Leo said, “They tell me that the people coming to the match, 90% are Villanova and 10% Notre Dame, so the voice of the people of God will be very strong on the Villanova side.”

Pope Leo XIV arrives in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, for an audience with some 7,000 university representatives and supporters from Villanova University and the University of Notre Dame, including members of their men's and women's basketball teams, ahead of the Eternal City Tip-Off, a men's and women's college basketball doubleheader in Rome on Nov. 1. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

From left, Notre Dame's guards Braeden Smith and Logan Imes present Pope Leo XIV with a personalized Notre Dame's jersey and basketball as they meet in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, during an audience with some 7,000 university representatives ahead of the Eternal City Tip-Off, a men’s and women’s college basketball doubleheader in Rome on Nov. 1. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) CORRECTION: Corrects player at left to Braeden Smith and Logan Imes instead of Elijah Crawford, and Brady Muller

Pope Leo XIV examines a basketball he received as a gift in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, during an audience with some 7,000 university representatives and supporters from Villanova University and the University of Notre Dame, including members of their men's and women's basketball teams, ahead of the Eternal City Tip-Off, a men's and women's college basketball doubleheader in Rome on Nov. 1. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

From left, Villanova's guards Elijah Crawford, and Brady Muller present Pope Leo XIV with a personalized Villanova's jersey as they meet in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, during an audience with some 7,000 university representatives and supporters from Villanova University and the University of Notre Dame, including members of their men's and women's basketball teams, ahead of the Eternal City Tip-Off, a men's and women's college basketball doubleheader in Rome on Nov. 1. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

From right Villanova basketball player Jasmine Bascoe along with Villanova University President Peter M. Donohue, present Pope Leo XIV with a basketball in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, during an audience with some 7,000 university representatives ahead of the Eternal City Tip-Off, a men's and women's college basketball doubleheader in Rome on Nov. 1. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A boy wearing a makeshift papal costume waits for Pope Leo XIV to arrive in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, for an audience with some 7,000 university representatives and supporters from Villanova University and the University of Notre Dame, including members of their men's and women's basketball teams, ahead of the Eternal City Tip-Off, a men's and women's college basketball doubleheader in Rome on Nov. 1. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

St. Thomas of Villanova Church is seen through autumn leaves at Villanova University in Villanova, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Villanova basketball team's Luigi Suigo talks to journalists prior to the start of the men's basketball team training session in Rome, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Students walk past an image of Pope Leo XIV at Villanova University in Villanova, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The Villanova men's basketball team takes part in a training session in Rome, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Villanova University is seen in Villanova, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)