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The team from the Hilton Playa Del Carmen greets the 240 guests. The event begins with an open-air cocktail party.
The hotel's 3,247-square-foot central garden features the traditional ofrenda, a display of offerings to welcome the departed.
Incense adds atmosphere.
Hilton staff is busy preparing food for both live and ghostly guests.
Several dishes are made by hand using traditional methods.
Breads--particularly the pan de muerto--are a fixture at Day of the Dead celebrations.
A server welcomes guests.
Marigolds are traditional flowers for the ofrenda. Their vibrant color and pungent scent are believed to help guide spirits.
Pan de muerto--the pan dulce traditionally baked for Dia de Muertos.
More traditional ofrenda items: candles and sugar skulls, or calaveras.
Tamales on the ofrenda.
Professional artists are on hand to paint guests as catrinas and catarines--elegant skulls.
A mariachi band serenades guests.
Guests move into the newly renovated 6,500-square-foot ballroom.
The ballroom is transformed with a decorated ofrenda, a "night sky" complete with "stars," and colorful tablescapes topped with sugar skulls.
The ballroom features mojigangas (giant dancing puppets), alebrijes (mythical creatures) and storytellers on stilts, roaming about the room.
A long view.
Guests party on into the night.
