Day of the Dead Festival

Festival Dia de Muertos 2026

The Veronica Robles Cultural Center (VROCC) proudly presents the 2026 Día de Muertos Official Celebration in collaboration with the Mexican Consulate in Boston, the City of Boston, the City of Chelsea, and the ICA Watershed. This event is New England’s largest multi-day, multi-site Day of the Dead celebration, featuring a month-long series of activities leading up to the official observance.

This year marks VROCC’s 14th year honoring this rich tradition as an established nonprofit organization.

Free tickets here
Dia de muertos Chelsea 2026 VROCC

The full celebration schedule is here:

Exhibition: Sunday, October 26th to Sunday, November 2nd

Ofrenda (Altar) – Chelsea

Free and open to all community members

📍 Location: Chelsea City Hall Plaza, 500 Broadway, Chelsea, MA

  • 🎨 Installation:
    📅 Saturday, October 25
    ⏰ 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
  • 🖼️ Exhibition Dates:
    📅 Sunday, October 26 – Sunday, November 2
  • 🛠️ Breakdown:
    📅 Sunday, November 2
    ⏰ 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Register here

Tuesday, October 28

Lecture about the Day of the Dead

Free and open to all

  • 👩‍🏫 Presenter: Dr. Raquel Urroz, Master in History and PhD in Anthropology from the prestigious UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico)
  • 📍 Location: Chelsea Public Library
    569 Broadway, Chelsea, MA 02150
  • 📅 Date: Tuesday, October 28
    ⏰ Time: 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Register here

October 31

Installation - Ofrenda – East Boston

  • Calling all volunteers and artists! 

    • Join us for the Ofrenda/Altar Installation in honor of Día de Muertos — a space for community, creativity, and tradition, where together we bring this symbol of memory and culture to life.

     📅Installation: Friday, October 31
    ⏰ 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
    📍 ICA Watershed, 256 Marginal St., East Boston

Register here

Saturday, November 1st and Sunday, November 2nd

Exhibition: Ofrenda – East Boston

FREE & Open to All

Experience the beauty of tradition, memory, and community at the Ofrenda/Altar Exhibition.
Visit, reflect, and honor this powerful cultural celebration with us.

📍 Location: ICA Watershed, 256 Marginal St., East Boston, MA 02128

🗓️ Two Days:

  • 📅 Saturday, November 1st
  • 📅 Sunday, November 2nd

⏰ 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m

Sunday, November 2nd

Activity #1

Ofrenda and Exhibition - East Boston

Discover the beauty of tradition and remembrance at the ICA Watershed. Visit the community Ofrenda/Altar installation, a space to honor loved ones and celebrate culture through art and memory.

  • 📅 Saturday, November 1st & Sunday, November 2nd
  • ⏰ 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
  • 📍 ICA Watershed, 256 Marginal St., East Boston
  • 💵 FREE & Open to the Public

Activity #2

Día de Muertos Festival– Chelsea ✨💀🌼

FREE & Open to All Join us for a vibrant community celebration filled with tradition, art, and culture! The festival begins with a colorful procession that brings the spirit of Día de Muertos to life.

  • 📍Location: Winnisimmet Sq. Park, Chelsea 
  • 📅 Sunday, November 2nd
    🕐 Procession starts at 1:00 p.m.
    🎉 Festival: 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. 
Dia de muertos celebration 2024

VENDOR & BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

  • 🎪 Pre-Register Your Business: Join our community marketplace
  • What We’re Looking For: Food vendors, artisans, cultural crafts, traditional music performers
  • Vendor Benefits: Access to engaged community, prime event location, cultural celebration atmosphere
Pre Register here

About the celebration

Cultural Context

VROCC encourages community action for social justice by offering a safe place where individuals, families, and students of all backgrounds interested in fostering, sharing, and celebrating Latino cultures can come together. Through its cultural programming, VROCC helps to elevate the image of immigrant communities in Boston and, since 2013, has served over 400,000 people.

Pilars

Origins:

The Day of the Dead tradition predates the arrival of the Spanish conquerors to the American continent. In different cultures, particularly among the Mexican, it was believed that there was a process to be born and another to die. When the soul leaves the physical body, it must go through a series of tests or dimensions to reach the desired rest. 

Ofrenda

Families and community members commemorate this holiday by creating Ofrendas, (Day of the Dead altars), to honor the lives of their ancestors and deceased loved ones. These altars include photos of loved ones, candles, water, cempasúchil flower or marigold, sweets, salt, food, and more. Each component represents a part of an ancestral journey and cultural celebration to honor life and death. 

La Catrina

This character is one of the most recognizable symbols of the Dia de los Muertos in the modern days. It was created by José Guadalupe Posada, an exceptional painter, caricaturist, engraver, and illustrator born in Aguascalientes in 1852. Posada was famous for his lithographs featuring scenes of death, popular prints, and social caricatures inspired by folklore.

Testimonial

“Participating in one of Veronica Robles Cultural Center’s Día de Los Muertos events in 2024 was an extraordinary experience! We displayed our first Done Vida altar at the altar exhibition, honoring, celebrating, and remembering donor heroes who gave life after passing through organ donation. 

This was impactful not only for our donor families but also for our New England Donor Services staff, transplant recipients, volunteers, and the community at large.

It was a perfect opportunity to intertwine our mission of healing and saving lives through organ and tissue donation with one of the most beautiful Hispanic traditions of remembrance, Día de Los Muertos, a celebration where VROCC does exceptional work every year.“

Ingrid Palacios Multicultural Outreach Program Manager New England Donor Services

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