The first thing to understand about the Mission's Día de los Muertos procession is what it is not. It is not a parade. Nobody is performing at you from a float, there is no grandstand, there are no sponsors' banners, and there is no route marshalled behind barriers with an audience on either side. It is a community walking through its own neighbourhood carrying images of its dead, and the difference between those two things determines how you should behave if you go.
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The route and the timing
The procession has traditionally assembled around 22nd and Bryant Streets and set off after dark, in the region of seven in the evening, moving down 24th Street towards Mission Street with ritual dances performed at the main intersections along the way.
It is organised by El Colectivo del Rescate Cultural de La Misión — the collective to rescue the culture of the Mission — which tells you most of what you need to know about its purpose. This is a neighbourhood asserting its own continuity in a district that has changed enormously around it, and it has been doing so annually for more than four decades.
Because it is community-organised rather than city-produced, the exact assembly point, start time and route are confirmed close to the date rather than months ahead. Check the organisers or the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District in the days beforehand rather than relying on an article from a previous year, including this one.
The dances are the point, not the walk
The pauses matter more than the movement. At each major intersection the procession stops and ritual dances are performed, which is when the whole thing stops resembling a march and becomes what it actually is. Those stops are also where the crowd compresses, so if you want to see anything, position yourself at an intersection ahead of the procession rather than walking in the middle of it.
The visual language is worth knowing before you arrive so you are not simply looking at costumes. Faces painted as calaveras, marigolds — cempasúchil, whose scent is said to guide the dead — copal incense, candles, and photographs of specific people carried by the people who loved them. Every element is doing a job.
- Held annually on 2 November, the Day of the Dead itself
- Traditionally assembles around 22nd and Bryant and moves down 24th Street after dark
- Ritual dances at the main intersections along the route
- Free to attend; organised by community groups, not the city
- Confirm the year's start time and route with the organisers in the week beforehand
The scale is worth setting expectations around too. This is not a stadium event and it is not small: hundreds of people walk it, thousands line the corridor, and the density varies enormously along the route. The blocks nearest the assembly point are tight and slow; further down towards Mission Street there is more room and a better view of the whole thing moving. If you are bringing anybody who does not want to be in a crush, wait for it at the western end rather than joining at the start.
Where to stand, and how to be there
Arrive early and walk 24th Street before it begins. The corridor between Mission and Potrero is the heart of the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District — murals, panaderías, produce markets, the mural alleys off Balmy and Osage — and it is worth an hour on its own. Doing that first also means you understand what the procession is moving through rather than just watching it pass.
Photography deserves a specific thought. People are carrying pictures of relatives who have died, and many are visibly grieving. A camera in someone's face at that moment is not observation, it is intrusion. Photograph the crowd, the altars and the street; ask before photographing a person, and accept no as an answer without negotiating.
It is also not a Halloween event, despite falling two days after one. Turning up in a generic horror costume misreads the occasion badly. Painted faces are welcome and widely worn, including by people from outside the community, but the register is remembrance rather than fright.
The same night, a few blocks south, community members build the Festival of Altars in Garfield Park, and the two events are designed to be experienced together rather than as alternatives. The procession is the moving half and the altars are the still half, and people flow between them across the evening. Allowing time for both is the difference between watching something and understanding it.
Getting there and afterwards
The 24th Street Mission BART station is on the route itself, which makes this one of the easiest events in the city to reach and to leave. Driving is a poor idea: streets close, parking in the Mission is difficult on an ordinary Tuesday, and this is not an ordinary Tuesday.
Afterwards, the neighbourhood is the reward. 24th Street has some of the best and least expensive food in San Francisco, and the taquerías and panaderías along the corridor stay busy late on the night. Eating there afterwards is also the most direct way to put money into the neighbourhood whose event you have just attended, which is the correct way to end the evening.
Practical notes
The Día de los Muertos procession in San Francisco's Mission District takes place on 2 November, traditionally assembling near 22nd and Bryant Streets after dark and moving down 24th Street towards Mission, with ritual dances at the main intersections. It is free, community-organised by El Colectivo del Rescate Cultural de La Misión, and now in its fifth decade. Confirm the exact time and route with the organisers close to the date. Take BART to 24th Street Mission rather than driving, arrive early to walk the Calle 24 corridor first, ask before photographing individuals, and do not treat it as a Halloween event.
Tags: #SanFrancisco #DiaDeLosMuertos #MissionDistrict #FreeThingsToDo #24thStreet #DayOfTheDead #SFEvents #Calle24 #Community #SFOnABudget #Procession #ThingsToDoSF #Latino #Marigolds
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