The 5th annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) at the Mission Marquee Plaza took place on Saturday, Oct. 29. Live music, colorful clothes and face paint lit up the night as the community remembered the lives of those lost. With a whole day of activities planned from 3 to 10 p.m., the event had plenty to offer, from free face painting to a screening of Guillermo Del Toro’s “Book of the Dead.” Alongside the scheduled events, many small businesses took part in the celebration, with vendors selling everything from Las Dulces Calaveras (painted sugar skulls) to candles.

Besides the street tacos, the highlight of the night was the performance by the Latin orchestra Volcán, who started their performance at 7:30 p.m. and kept the crowd dancing for over an hour and a half. The suave lead singer of the orchestra entertained and engaged the audience throughout the performance with his comical openness and beautiful voice. During their performance, the drive-in screen at the plaza was going through a slide show of the lives lost by this community in the last year.

Remembering those who are no longer among the living and celebrating their time on this planet is what Día de los Muertos is about, and its significance in Latin culture comes from a long history of celebrating life in its embrace of death.