As Mexicans celebrate Day of the Dead, they grapple with what it means to hold on to tradition

MEXICO CITY (AP) — It’s midnight on the fringes of Mexico City, and the San Gregorio Pantheon is not just alive, it’s booming.

The roar of mariachis echoes over families adorning the graves of lost loved ones with rows of candles, orange cempasúchil flowers and their favorite treats ranging from pan de muerto to bottles of Coca-Cola.

Every year this time Mexico erupts in celebrations during the Day of the Dead. Families gather at cemeteries across the country on Nov. 1 to reconnect with their dead just as their ancestors have done for centuries.

For many more in small communities like this, it’s also about preserving the core of their traditions as celebrations in places in bigger hubs have increasingly been marked by mass tourism.

“We’re conserving our tradition, part of our heritage that my mother instilled in me,” said 58-year-old Antonio Meléndez. “We can’t let it be lost.”

Meléndez was among throngs of people gathered in the cemetery, tucked away in the maze of canals and brick buildings in Xochimilco, a borough in south of Mexico City that has long carried on traditions that have faded away in other parts of the country.

He gathered with his two daughters around the grave of his mother, marked by orange flower petals spread out in the shape of a cross and bouquets of pink flowers, his mother’s favorite color.

Meléndez said she died last year, and the loss was still fresh, so he was trying to remember her by continuing with the same rituals he watched her carry out growing up, this time with his daughters. He has started preparing for the celebration four days before, making tamales from scratch and building a small altar for her in their home.

Day of the Dead dates back centuries to ancient Indigenous civilizations, which would organize parties when someone died to guide them on to the next life, and lay out food in altars to nourish them on their journeys, according to the Mexican government.

“In this celebration of the Day of the Dead, death does not represent an absence but a living presence; death is a symbol of life that materializes in the altar offered,” it writes.

When Spanish colonizers arrived and began forcing Catholicism upon Indigenous communities, they would mix Indigenous traditions with Catholic holidays. Celebrations of the dead then synced up with All Saints Day, on Nov. 1, ending on Nov 2.

While celebrations begin ramping up at the end of October, Mexican tradition says that on that night their deceased are closest to the living world, and people hope to keep them company. Though each family celebrates in different ways.

In San Gregorio Pantheon, elderly women carry massive bundles of orange flowers, the iconic flower of death. Some families sob into each other’s arms. Others sit alone next to loved one’s graves in silence. Many more drink mezcal and tell stories of their family members.

Gathered with her daughter and granddaughter, 60-year-old Beatriz Chávez kneels at the graves of her son, nephew and father, quietly lighting candles.

“It’s like being with them one more year, feeling like even if they don’t see them, we feel like we’re closer to them,” Chávez said, noting that she planned to sleep in the graveyard, just like she did every year since her father died when she was 10.

Over the years, the tradition has been the focus of the Disney film Coco. A Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City was also featured in a James Bond film, despite such a parade not actually existing in real life. Annual celebrations later adopted the idea of the parade from the movie.

Now, people from all over the world have flocked to the Latin American nation, eager to experience the rich tradition for themselves.

But once quaint celebrations in hubs for the Day of the Dead like Mexico City, Oaxaca and Michoacan have started to brim with tourists, who snap photos of mourners. In recent years, many Mexicans have also begun to mix the celebration with Halloween and other new traditions like the James Bond parade have popped up.

Some like Meléndez have prickled at the shifts.

“Here, Halloween isn’t ours, it’s Day of the Dead,” he said. “It’s sad because it’s getting distorted. We’re losing the essence of who we are. This is a part of us, our roots.”

For Meléndez, it adds an extra level of importance to the celebration in their small cemetery, which he and others say has stayed true to the centuries-old traditions.

It coincides with a larger conversation playing out across Mexico amid an influx of American “expats” and tourists. As more move to or travel to Mexico City, rents have gotten so high that many Mexicans have been pushed out of areas they’ve lived in for much of their lives, leaving frustration simmering in much of the city.

Those who wander the graves and sell flowers and food in the streets, see the changes less as a loss of tradition, and more as an evolution – a way for younger generations to continue passing on their heritage in their own ways, and share it with new audiences.

That was the case for mourner Chavez, who celebrated with her daughter and granddaughter. They were using the lights of their iPhones to help her grandmother lay out flowers.

“It's beautiful because we're talking about other places being interested in our culture. And I think showcasing all our love for our dead, and the celebration of death is important – important that they know of our roots, our traditions, generation to generation,” said her daughter, 36-year-old Ana Laura Anell Chávez.

Families gather to keep company with their dearly departed, celebrating Day of the Dead, at the San Gregorio Atlapulco cemetery on the outskirts of Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A man sits at the tomb of a dearly departed celebrating the Day of the Dead, at the San Gregorio Atlapulco cemetery on the outskirts of Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A tomb is decorated with a Catrina sculpture and cempasúchil flowers or marigolds, celebrating Day of the Dead, at the San Gregorio Atlapulco cemetery on the outskirts of Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Families gather to keep company with their dearly departed, celebrating Day of the Dead at the San Gregorio Atlapulco cemetery, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A musician performs people celebrate the Day of the Dead, near the San Gregorio Atlapulco cemetery on the outskirts of Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Women arrive at the cemetery to keep company with their dearly departed, as they celebrate Day of the Dead, at the San Gregorio Atlapulco on the outskirts of Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Juana Godoy, left, and Isaac Gonzalez sit at the tomb of their dearly departed, as they celebrate the Day of the Dead, at the San Gregorio Atlapulco cemetery on the outskirts of Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A woman stands at a tomb of a dearly departed, celebrating Day of the Dead, at the San Gregorio Atlapulco cemetery on the outskirts of Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Families gather by the tomb of their dearly departed, as they celebrate the Day of the Dead, at the San Gregorio Atlapulco cemetery on the outskirts of Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative Party on Saturday elected outspoken lawmaker Kemi Badenoch as its new leader as it tries to rebound from a crushing election defeat that ended 14 years in power.

The first Black woman to lead a major British political party, Badenoch (pronounced BADE-enock) defeated rival candidate Robert Jenrick in a vote of almost 100,000 members of the right-of-center Conservatives.

She got 53,806 votes in the online and postal ballot of party members, to Jenrick's 41,388.

Badenoch replaces former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who in July led the Conservatives to their worst election result since 1832.

The new leader’s daunting task is to try to restore the party’s reputation after years of division, scandal and economic tumult, hammer Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s policies on key issues including the economy and immigration, and return the Conservatives to power at the next election, due by 2029.

“The task that stands before us is tough but simple,” Badenoch said in a victory speech to a roomful of Conservative lawmakers, staff and journalists in London. She said the party's job was to hold the Labour government to account, and to craft pledges and a plan for government.

Addressing the party's election drubbing, she said “we have to be honest — honest about the fact that we made mistakes, honest about the fact that we let standards slip.”

“The time has come to tell the truth, to stand up for our principles, to plan for our future, to reset our politics and our thinking, and to give our party, and our country, the new start that they deserve," Badenoch said.

A business secretary in Sunak's government, Badenoch was born in London to Nigerian parents and spent much of her childhood in the West African country.

The 44-year-old former software engineer depicts herself as a disruptor, arguing for a low-tax, free-market economy and pledging to “rewire, reboot and reprogram” the British state. Like her rival Jenrick, she has criticized multiculturalism and called for lower immigration, though unlike him she has not demanded that Britain leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

A self-proclaimed enemy of wokeness Badenoch opposes identity politics, gender-neutral bathrooms and government plans to reduce U.K. carbon emissions. During the leadership campaign she drew criticism for saying that “not all cultures are equally valid,” and for suggesting that maternity pay was excessive.

Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the Conservative Party was likely to “swing towards the right both in terms of its economic policies and its social policies” under Badenoch.

He predicted Badenoch would pursue "what you might call the boats, boilers and bathrooms strategy .... focusing very much on the trans issue, the immigration issue and skepticism about progress towards net zero.”

While the Conservative Party is unrepresentative of the country as a whole — its 132,000 members are largely affluent, older white men – its upper echelons have become markedly more diverse.

Badenoch is the Tories’ fourth female leader, after Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May and Liz Truss, all of whom became prime minister. She’s the second Conservative leader of color, after Sunak, and the first with African roots. The center-left Labour Party, in contrast, has only ever been led by white men.

In a leadership contest that lasted more than three months, Conservative lawmakers reduced the field from six candidates in a series of votes before putting the final two to the wider party membership.

Both finalists came from the right of the party, and argued they could win voters back from Reform U.K., the hard-right, anti-immigrant party led by populist politician Nigel Farage that has eaten away at Conservative support.

But the party also lost many voters to the winning party, Labour, and to the centrist Liberal Democrats, and some Conservatives worry that tacking right will lead the party away from public opinion.

Starmer's government has had a rocky first few months in office, beset by negative headlines, fiscal gloom and a plummeting approval rating.

But Bale said that the historical record suggests the odds are against Badenoch leading the Conservatives back to power in 2029.

“It’s quite unusual for someone to take over when a party gets very badly beaten and manage to lead it to election victory," he said. "However, Keir Starmer did exactly that after 2019. So records are there to be broken.”

This story has been corrected to say Badenoch is the fourth female Conservative leader, not the third.

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch, left, embraces her husband Hamish Badenoch after being elected as the new leader of the opposition Conservative Party, in London, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch, speaks after being elected as the new leader of the opposition Conservative Party, in London, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch's husband Hamish applauds as she was announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members, at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Saturday Nov. 2, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch speaks after being elected as the new leader of the opposition Conservative Party, in London, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

FILE - Kemi Badenoch, Britain's Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade, Minister for Women and Equalities leaves after attending a cabinet meeting in Downing Street in London, on Jan. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

Britain's Member of Parliament Kemi Badenoch is congratulated by Robert Jenrick after being announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members, at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Saturday Nov. 2, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

FILE - Conservative leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch addresses members during the Conservative Party Conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)