In the southern Mexico City borough of Tláhuac, ordinary residential streets are once again transforming into surreal, cinematic landscapes that look as if they were pulled from a horror film. Giant handmade skeletons appear to claw their way up through cracked asphalt, limbs sprawling across the pavement amid piles of rubble, creating an eerie optical illusion that has captivated locals and visitors for years.
These monumental installations, known as the Calaveras Gigantes de Tláhuac, return each autumn for DĂa de los Muertos, Mexico’s traditional Day of the Dead celebrations. The most striking examples are found along Calle Francisco Santiago Borraz in the Santa Cecilia neighborhood, where the sculptures seem to burst from the ground itself.
A Viral Sensation Rooted in Community Tradition
The phenomenon gained international attention in 2019, when photographs of the emerging skeletons spread rapidly across social media and global news outlets. Many initially assumed the artists were cleverly exploiting existing potholes. In reality, local artisans deliberately arranged construction rubble and debris around the figures to produce the dramatic “breaking through the asphalt” effect.
The tradition, however, is older and more deeply rooted. It began in 2011 when cartonero (papier-mâchĂ© artisan) Raymundo Medina JaĂ©n and his family placed a modest ofrenda and small cardboard skeletons on the sidewalk outside their home. Medina had learned the craft at the Fábrica de Artes y Oficios (FARO) de Tláhuac. Over the years, the family project evolved into the JaĂ©n CartonerĂa collective, drawing in relatives, neighbors, and other local artisans. What started as a simple sidewalk display has grown into a multi-street cultural corridor that attracts thousands of visitors.
Craftsmanship Behind the Spectacle
The sculptures are handmade from recycled cardboard, papier-mâché, glue, and paint. Larger pieces can take months of planning and construction, with intensive work in the final weeks before installation. Some figures reach more than six or seven meters in height or stretch for dozens of meters when designed as serpentine forms. They are typically painted in the classic black-and-white skeletal style associated with Mexican calaveras, often with a slight smile that softens their imposing presence.
Themes change annually. Past editions have paid homage to José Guadalupe Posada’s iconic Catrina, pre-Hispanic deities such as Quetzalcóatl and Tláloc, everyday Mexican characters, and memorials to victims of natural disasters, including the 2017 earthquake and later hurricanes. The 2019 viral skeletons, for example, were conceived in part as a tribute to those who perished in the September 19, 2017 quake, symbolically linking the emerging figures to the Mexica underworld of Mictlán.
2026 Return Dates
This year the installations are scheduled to begin appearing around October 24 and remain on view through November 7, 2026. Access is free, as the works occupy public streets. Organizers promise new monumental pieces and complementary cultural activities, continuing the neighborhood’s self-managed tradition. The nearest major transit stop is Metro Tláhuac on Line 12.
Horror Aesthetic, Celebratory Spirit
While the visual impact is undeniably dramatic—evoking scenes of the undead rising from the earth—the underlying spirit of the displays is joyful and communal. DĂa de los Muertos blends Indigenous Mesoamerican beliefs about the return of ancestors with Catholic All Saints’ and All Souls’ traditions. Skeletons in Mexican culture often serve as playful reminders of mortality rather than pure symbols of fear.
By turning a quiet residential street into an open-air gallery, the artisans of Santa Cecilia have created one of Mexico City’s most distinctive and photogenic Day of the Dead experiences. The giant figures that appear to shatter the pavement are not commercial attractions but a living expression of local creativity, family continuity, and cultural pride—proof that even the most ordinary urban spaces can become stages for the spectacular.
