Day of the Dead

If there’s one thing that the English do well, it’s stealing stuff from other countries.

Curry, the Elgin Marbles and the best part of Kylie Minogue’s career; they’ve all been brought over here and enjoyed for our delectation.

The newest import to these shores is the Mexican festival Day of the Dead (El Dia de los Muertos). It’s a little like Halloween and falls only a couple of days after. But it is markedly different, as instead of our indigenous puritan attitude towards death, it takes a more celebratory attitude towards those that have departed. On show at the Bathhouse bar in Bishopsgate were flowers, bright colours and overflowing Cazadores tequila.

There were also quite an array of costumes, Frida Kahlo lookalikes and lace a plenty. Which made my own offering looking a little atrocious in comparison. Owing to an unfortunate burglary suffered by myself and lacking any time before the party started, I arrived with only some two-tone face paint as the solitary attempt made to channel some Aztec spirit. As it was, I looked less like a Mayan warrior and more like a five-year-old messing around on potato print day at the nursery. It would have been a perfect fit if the theme for this party was ‘twats’. But it wasn’t.

But my sartorial mistakes aside, this was quite the bash and very much in keeping with the levity associated with the occasion. The Audio Sushi boys and Miss Jodie Harsh knocked out song after song to keep a packed dance floor bopping and twisting away.

Given this is a Mexican celebration, tequila was not far away. The traditional favourites: the paloma and the margarita were exceedingly well put together and the Cazadores tequila made for a great base for both. However, the best of the bunch was probably the new creation made especially for the evening. Combining the tequila along with blood orange juice, El Vampiro packed quite a punch and proved to be quite popular amongst those present. The food provided was pretty top notch too with chicken and beef tacos along with tortilla chips.

Although the Day of the Dead festival is not well known this side of the Atlantic, the fervour and the passion of the event mean that it should become ever more popular. After all, we all like a bit of dressing up, – just not arriving at a party to see 15 people dressed as the Joker .

The El Dia de los Muertos celebration took place on Tuesday 3 November at:

The Bathhouse
7-8 Bishopsgate Churchyard
Bishopsgate
EC2M 3TJ

Tel: 0207 920 9207