Where to Celebrate Dia de los Muertos

17 festive Day of the Dead celebrations taking place across Houston

Discovery Green Dia de lo Muertos Day of the Day

Discovery Green will recognize the holiday with an ofrenda, art activities, and more.

Courtesy of Discovery Green

Call us wacky, but whenever this time of year rolls around, we get more psyched about the Dia de los Muertos (aka Day of the Dead) events going down than anything Halloween-related.

Maybe it’s because, after dealing with all the trick-or-treating and drunk people in Spirit Halloween outfits, Dia de los Muertos is a two-day holiday where people can learn about and/or engage in Hispanic culture, as well as honor friends and family who have passed away.

For those interested in observing the holiday, here is a rundown of some events taking place across the Houston area:

Friday

City Place will kick off its fourth annual, two-day Dia de los Muertos celebration with a free Pix on the Plaza screening of Coco. On Saturday, a ceremonial altar will be unveiled for the community to recognize their dearly departed loved ones. 6:45 pm (4 pm Saturday).

Discovery Green’s Day of the Dead celebration features a community ofrenda (built by Houston artist Angel Quesada) to help visitors remember their loved ones. Families can enjoy hands-on art activities, artist demos, vendors, and more. 7 pm.

Downtown Houston+ will have a two-day weekend celebration at Trebly Park. It will feature a family movie night, the unveiling of a community ofrenda, and a festive Día de los Muertos Mercado with handcrafted items available for purchase. 6 pm (2 pm Saturday).

Locopotions in Magnolia will host its first Dia de los Muertos Celebration. The John Barraza Project will kick things off on Friday night, while Mike Casey and Amado J. Garcia will be there for Saturday performances. 7 pm (3 pm Saturday).

Metropolis & Extravaganza will have a Dia de los Muertos: Catrina Edition. There will be a Catrina costume contest, where the winner will receive $600. Girls get in free all night and guys get in free until 11 pm. 9 pm.

Miller Outdoor Theatre will have help for its celebration. FLAS and Índigo (Indigo Theater Group) return to celebrate “Calavera con Calavera” (Skulls), an original piece written by Indigo president Eddie Gonzalez, on its 11th anniversary. 7:30 pm.

The National Museum of Funeral History will have a Day of the Dead Market, filled with music, shopping, and costumes/makeup. Over 40 small business vendors, with a mix of Hispanic heritage, oddity, and artisan cottage vendors, will be there. 6 pm.

Old Town Harrisburg will have a three-day party called Ay de mi llorona “Dia de muertos.” An exciting raffle (or loteria) and market will kick things off on Friday, while Saturday and Sunday will have an art exhibition, live music, and ballet folklorico. 1 pm.

Urbe, Hugo Ortega's street food-inspired restaurant in Uptown Park , will commemorate the day with a lavish party featuring food stations, drink specials, a DJ and mariachis, face painting, a photobooth, festive decorations, and prizes for the best dressed attendees. Tickets, $85 per person plus tax and gratuity, are available online.

Saturday

East End Houston is welcoming folks to remember their friends and family who have passed on at its Day of the Dead celebration. The celebration includes an exciting local market featuring local businesses selling food and other items. 11 am.

Gloria’s Nightlife wants Houstonians to dance the night away this Dia de los Muertos. They’ll have live music from Orquesta Mi Rumba and the hottest beats from DJ Boris. Customers are encouraged to show up in your best catrina or sugar skull (or calavera) attire. 11 pm.

Historic Houston Cemetery will have a Dia de los Muertos gathering for those who want to honor and celebrate the memories of departed loved ones. They will have face painting, costumes, dancers, food, drinks, and more. 10 am.

Hope Farms will have a Day of the Dead event where children and their families can explore the rich culture behind this holiday. Kids will engage in activities including learning about the ofrenda, creating mementos for the altar, and more. 2 pm.

MECA will have its two-day, 24th Annual Día de los Muertos Festival. This free community event invites Houstonians to experience the rich traditions of Mexico's Day of the Dead through art, music, and cultural expression. 11 am.

Scout Bar has a Dia de los Muertos Music Spectacular, for people who’d like to spend their Day of the Dead rocking out. Los Skarnales is scheduled to be the headliner, along with opening acts InDaSkies and Marshall Falcon & the Texas Muthatruckas. 7:30 pm.

Tejas Brewery & Taproom will have a vibrant and festive celebration, complete with a DJ, photo booth, costume contest, and more. Plus, enjoy a limited-time menu featuring tamales, warm champurrado, mini conchas, and traditional pan de muerto. 8 pm.

Verde Garden will have a two-day fest with face painting, folklorico dancers, live mariachi performances, live DJs, food and drink specials, and more. Houstonians can also contribute to Verde Garden’s special ofrenda. 11 am.

day of the dead holidays dia de los muertos

Movie Review

Avatar: Fire and Ash returns to Pandora with big action and bold visuals

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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