The annual Day of the Dead procession in the Bywater and St. Roch neighborhoods is one of the most beautiful, moving events of the fall season in New Orleans.

Imagine joining a huge crowd of marchers to trek amid antique architecture and shadowy oak trees in the night, wearing macabre costumes, with the beat of drums echoing everywhere, the scent of burning sage in the air, and the flames of hundreds of hand-held candles illuminating the way.

A Mexican tradition, the Day of the Dead is an opportunity to bid farewell to those loved ones we’ve lost in the previous year. The spectacular procession, produced by the Krewe de Mayahuel Carnival marching group, is both solemn and joyous.

Eliot Brown remembered

This year, the krewe is paying special homage to a member who died suddenly and trag

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