Tijuana’s CECUT Day of the Dead Program: Opening October 29, 2026

If you're weighing a Día de Muertos stop in Tijuana, the Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT) has a four-day program that opens this week. It runs Thursday, Oct. 29 to Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026.

The four days are a window, not a single schedule. The altar opening, the ticketed play and the two catrina shows each happen on one day only, so those are the ones to pick a date for.

The altar opening, Thursday, Oct. 29

The Monumental Altar de Muertos is scheduled to be inaugurated at 11:30 a.m. in the lobby of the Museo de las Californias. This year it is dedicated to Margarita Maza Parada, marking 200 years since her birth. The announcement describes her as an activist and diplomat of nineteenth-century Mexico.

The announcement gives the opening time but no daily viewing hours for the altar, so those are not confirmed.

The stage program on the Explanada

Admission to the Explanada artistic program is free. It starts the same Thursday at 4 p.m. on the Explanada with the Fushion Dance academy, and singer Perla Moreno follows at 4:40 p.m. Ballet Folklórico Quetzal takes the stage at 5 p.m., followed by singer Miriam Ramírez. Ballet Folklórico Ma ja Ima performs at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m., El rincón de los niños offers singing and dancing while Calacas begins separately in the Sala de Espectáculos.

Friday, Oct. 30 starts at 1 p.m. with two young soloists. Saturday, Oct. 31 starts at 1 p.m. with the Ensamble Wa-Kuatay. Sunday, Nov. 1 opens with the Grupo de Danza Xantolo from 1 to 3 p.m., with dances from San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo and Veracruz.

Saturday also includes Black Bridge at 1:30 p.m., Ya'a Nuumei at 2:30 p.m. and Colectivo Fandango Fronterizo at 3:30 p.m. Azul Elektrico follows at 4 p.m., with Más Latidos at 4:30 p.m.

The Sunday finale is singer Montserrat Sánchez at 6:30 p.m., which closes the artistic program. The CECUT program PDF has the detailed running order for each act.

Two dated shows: the play and the catrina runways

The play Calacas, by Entremares Teatro, is in the Sala de Espectáculos at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29. It is a musical tribute to José Guadalupe Posada. Tickets cost 250 pesos, sold at the box office and on the CECUT website. This is the one confirmed paid item in the announcement.

The first Pasarela de Catrinas is Friday, Oct. 30, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., on the outside steps of the IMAX Dome. It is the seventh edition, put on by a university fashion program. A second one, by MsM Studio & Models, is Saturday, Oct. 31 at 6:30 p.m.

Other single sessions

On Saturday, Oct. 31, the storytelling show Mitli, about a girl from Mictlán who visits the world of the living, is at 5 p.m. On Sunday, Nov. 1, Edith Vega presents the storytelling show Doña Juana del Cerro Colorado at 3 p.m.

On Sunday evening the Coro Meraki sings at 6 p.m. on the Explanada.

What lies behind the program

The observances of Nov. 1 and 2 reached Mexico in the sixteenth century. Offerings of food and candles became part of remembrance for the dead.

CECUT frames its own program as a way to recall the bond between life and death at the Tijuana border.

Before you go

CECUT invites the public to this program of performances and remembrance. Near the altar, keep your voice low and ask before photographing anyone. Calacas is the only paid item specified in the announcement; admission details for the altar and other spaces are not given. The altar's inauguration time is not a confirmed daily viewing schedule. Before choosing a session, check CECUT's detailed program and social channels for the relevant space, performance time and any further admission information.