The Day of the Dead celebrations are a great time to honour the dead. Here’s where to stay to experience them.

Mexico City, Mexico

On November 4, a parade starts with thousands of dancers. “The best place to watch the parade is from a terrace on the Paseo de Reforma, where you can see the dancers and colours from above,” says Karla Gonzalez, director of the Mexico City tourism board.

Oaxaca, Mexico

This southern Mexico city is known for candlelit cemeteries on the Day of the Dead, and parades with dancers in the Jalatlaco neighborhood. “The city doesn’t sleep for three days,” says local tour guide Gabriel Sánchez. He takes guests to the cemetery in Santa Maria Atzompa, a village three miles from Oaxaca City, where the families go all out with candles and flowers.

San Diego, California

The first European settlement (定居点) in Southern California, Old Town San Diego is a seven-block state park with shopfronts dating back to the 18th century. It’s also the site of a long-running Day of the Dead celebration, with a crafts market and a candlelit parade to the El Campo Santo Cemetery on November 2, which dates to 1849.

San Antonio, Texas

This south Texas city was once a part of Mexico, known for its exciting Day of the Dead celebrations. In downtown’s Hemisphere Park, the festival brings a parade of boats lit with bright lights on the River Walk on the evening of October 27. You can also see a famous tourist draw on the south bank of the San Antonio River.

In an industry that so often focuses on youth, Carmen Dell Orefice is an inspirational person. At 92 years old, she is considered the oldest working model. Dell Orefice is unique because her career (职业生涯) did not begin to take off in middle age or even her 90s. Amazingly, she has been modeling since she was 15.

Originally from New York City, Dell Orefice was discovered at 13 while riding the bus. Her first photos did not turn out as expected, but two years later, she caught her break when she was brought to Vogue magazine and signed her first modeling contract (合同). After that, she began her modeling career. But at first, Dell Orefice did not make enough money through modeling to support herself, so she and her mother had to do some other jobs. Her hard work offered her a chance to appear on Vogue covers, and she took part in many other activities, among other bookings.

Dell Orefice took a break from modeling after marrying, but finally returned to work in 1978 to support her life. She was 47 years old at the time, and it was then that her career really began to develop quickly. Since then, she has continued working hard, booking both catwalks and advertisements (广告). In 2022, the 91-year-old’s photo appeared on New You magazine. At 92, Dell Orefice appeared on the cover of Vogue Czechoslovakia.

“Men and women should care for themselves and love themselves. One of the secrets to keeping beauty is doing what you do for a baby, raising and feeding the baby with love,” she said. “That’s what we should do with ourselves: Nurture ourselves, love ourselves, and give that kind of energy to ourselves.”

The Giving Voice Chorus (合唱团) was created in 2014 by Mary Lenard, a former director of the Alzheimer’s Association of Minnesota-North Dakota. With co-worker Marge Ostroushko, who has taken care of a parent with Alzheimer’s disease(AD), a brain disorder that gets worse over time, Lenard set out to create an environment where people with AD and their caregivers felt supported and comfortable.

“People with AD sometimes withdraw and often are not included in the community,” she says. “Marge and I recognized that music and singing are ways for people with AD to still be included and join in life.”

In the beginning, the chorus was made up of 30 people, including volunteers from the community who helped with small tasks during chorus practice, such as helping singers find the printed music in their binders (活页夹) if they lost their place. Since then, the Giving Voice Chorus has grown to two additional choruses, with more than 180 members overall.

“We don’t do auditions, and we don’t care what AD cases you have or the stage of your disease,” says Lenard. “As long as you enjoy the experience, anyone can be part of the group. It’s a place where everyone belongs.”

Lenard says, “When we first started out, Marge and I didn’t know if people with AD were going to move away from the place where they ought to be or get upset.” But the opposite has happened. “There’s a positive change we see in people when they’re singing songs they love. They’re smiling, and there’s joy and laughter. It’s really special.”

“People with AD might have difficulty learning a new song or coming up with words on their own,” says Dr. Caselli, AD specialist at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. “But if they hear a song they’ve known all their lives, they tend to remember the words and are able to sing along. And because speech and long-term memory aren’t usually affected until late in the disease, members of the Giving Voice Chorus are likely to stay active until the last few months of life.”

Joyce Loaiza, aged 81, lives alone, but when she returns to her apartment at a Florida senior community, she often has a chat with a friendly female voice that asks about her day. A few miles away, the same voice comforted 83-year-old Deanna Dezern when her friend died. In central New York, it plays games and music for 92-year-old Marie Broadbent, who is blind and in a hospice (救济院), and in Washington, it helps 83-year-old Jan Worrell make new friends.

The women are some of the first in the country to receive the robot ElliQ, whose creators, Intuition Robotics, say it is the only device to use artificial intelligence specifically designed to help many older Americans who live alone.

“It’s interesting. You can actually talk to ElliQ,” said Loaiza. “She’ll make comments like, ‘I would go outside if I had hands, but I can’t hold an umbrella.’”

The robot, which looks like a small table lamp, has an eyeless, mouthless head that lights up and swivels (旋转). It remembers each user’s interests and their conversations, helping plan future chats.

ElliQ tells jokes and plays music. On a video screen, it provides tours of cities and museums. It leads exercises, asks about the owner’s health and gives reminders to take medications. It can also host video calls and contact relatives, friends or doctors in an emergency. But none of the conversations are heard by the company, with the information staying on each owner’s robot.

The idea of ElliQ is for a robot that keeps seniors company by adapting to their individual personality and interests, said Dor Skuler, the CEO of the company. The average user talks with ElliQ more than 30 times daily, even 6 months after receiving it, and more than 90% report lower levels of loneliness, Skuler added.