Dancers perform in November 2023 during the Día de Los Muertos event at Heritage Plaza in downtown Longview. (Jordan Green/Longview News-Journal File Photo)

From staff reports

On Saturday, Longview’s Heritage Plaza will teem with life as a crowd gathers there to honor the dead.

The third annual Longview Día de los Muertos celebration is set 4 to 7 p.m. and will include food, children’s activities, face-painting, music, dancing and a parade.

Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday where “families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a brief reunion that includes food, drink and celebration,” according to History.com.

As part of the holiday, people believe heaven is opened to allow the spirits of dead adults to rejoin their living relatives for 24 hours.

The holiday dates back at least 3,000 years, according to History.com.

“Upon dying, a person was believed to travel to Chicunamictlán, the Land of the Dead,” according to History.com. “Only after getting through nine challenging levels, a journey of several years, could the person’s soul finally reach Mictlán, the final resting place. In Nahua rituals honoring the dead, traditionally held in August, family members provided food, water and tools to aid the deceased in this difficult journey.

“This inspired the contemporary Day of the Dead practice in which people leave food or other offerings on their loved ones’ graves or set them out on makeshift altars called ofrendas in their homes.”

A common symbol of the holiday is La Catrina, a female skeleton.

Following opening ceremonies at 4 p.m. Saturday, folk dancing will begin at 4:30 p.m. A Catrina contest — determining which woman has the best La Catrina costume and makeup — is set at 5 p.m.

A parade is scheduled at 6 p.m., and Aztec dancers will perform at 6:45 p.m.

At 7 p.m. a vigil is planned to end the event.