Event · Community

Day of the Dead Celebration at the Harvard Peabody Museum

When

Sat, Oct 24 · 12:00 PM–4:00 PM

Where

Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138Open in Google Maps ↗

Ages

Family-friendly, all ages

Cost

Regular museum admission rates apply; activities free except sugar skull workshop (extra fee)

Organizer

Harvard Museums of Science & Culture

A family-friendly Día de los Muertos afternoon at Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and the connected Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge. Children can decorate calavera masks, make paper banners and traditional paper cempasúchil (marigold) flowers, craft a flapping monarch butterfly, and write a message to departed loved ones for the museum's altar. Visitors can see a temporary Hanal Pixán altar and learn the meaning of the objects on it. A bilingual monarch butterfly story, song and parade with Esther Gomez runs at 12:30 and 3pm, and at 2pm Mariachi Veritas, the Harvard Undergraduate Folklórico Company and guest performers play and dance in the Geological Lecture Hall. Decorating a sugar skull costs extra (cards only, last seating 3:30pm), and hot chocolate and pan de muerto are for sale. Event activities are free but regular museum admission applies; registration gets limited free event parking.