Cabalgata de las Ánimas Rosarito 2026: Catrín Horseback Ride, Nov 1

Cabalgata de las Ánimas Rosarito: what's happening Nov. 1

The Cabalgata de las Ánimas Rosarito sets out on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026 at 2:00 p.m., with about 50 riders dressed as catrines on decorated horses. They will ride along Bulevar Benito Juárez to the Centro Cultural Rosarito, according to details attributed to Denisse Carrizoza Ornelas, director of IMAC Playas de Rosarito.

IMAC, the city's arts and culture institute, organizes the ride with the group Vaqueros de Rosarito. It leads into the second edition of La Última Fiesta, the free Festival de Muertos on the Centro Cultural esplanade.

Sunday at a glance

Entry is free. We found no published arrival time for the riders, so don't plan around one.

Mind the clock. Baja California, including Playas de Rosarito, sets clocks back one hour at 2:00 a.m. that same Sunday. A phone should update itself, but a watch or car clock won't. If you go by a clock you haven't changed, you'll show up an hour early.

Where does the ride start?

Published start points don't match, so here is exactly what we found:

• Rosarito.net and Noticias Rosarito: Campo Deportivo René Ortiz Campoy. The official quoted in Noticias Rosarito calls the start "the baseball field."
• SanDiegoRed: the Campos del Emiliano Zapata, at the same 2:00 p.m. It calls the event a Desfile de Catrinas with a mounted contingent and never uses the word cabalgata.

These may not really conflict. A 2022 El Imparcial report places the René Ortiz baseball field inside the Emiliano Zapata sports complex. That would make them two names for one area, but we found no organizer saying so for this ride.

If you want to see the departure, confirm the meeting point with IMAC first. If you only want to see the riders, the sources give you an easy way out: watch along Benito Juárez or wait at the Centro Cultural.

What is a catrín cabalgata?

A catrín cabalgata is a Day of the Dead horseback parade in which riders dress as elegant skeletons. Skull makeup, top hats and long gowns go on the rider, and the horse is usually decorated too.

The costume has a sharp history. Printmaker José Guadalupe Posada created the skeleton lady around 1912 as the Calavera Garbancera, a satire of people who dressed in European style to pass as upper class. Frances Toor and Diego Rivera's 1930 book of Posada's engravings gave her the name Calavera Catrina, and Rivera put her at the center of a famous 1947 mural.

A catrín is the male version: a dandy. So a rider in full catrín dress is playing on an old Mexican joke, that wealth and fine clothes don't stop anyone from ending up a skeleton.

Other parts of Mexico have made this their own. Compare it with the Abasolo catrinas ride in Guanajuato and the nighttime ride in Villahermosa. For the broader tradition, read What Is a Cabalgata?.

Why do Baja's vaqueros ride on Day of the Dead?

Organizers frame it as a matter of identity. Carrizoza Ornelas has described the ride as adding local identity and pride, and the event as a way to reaffirm neighborly bonds and a sense of belonging.

The horse also has deep roots on this peninsula. National Geographic traces vaqueros of the Sierra de San Francisco, far south of Rosarito, to 18th-century soldiers who arrived with Jesuit missionaries. Known as leather soldiers, they received land after the Jesuits' 1767 expulsion and turned to raising cattle and goats.

That history is the peninsula's, not a documented lineage for this particular group. We found no published history of Vaqueros de Rosarito. Still, riding is a familiar way to mark occasions here: every October, the Fiesta de las Fronteras brings a commemorative ride to the same municipality.

How to enjoy it with kids

Rosarito.net and Noticias Rosarito describe the day as family-friendly and ask visitors to respect the horses. The sources don't list barriers, street closures or specific measures for the horses, so plan as if you are responsible for your own safe spot.

A decorated horse is still a horse. Crowds and noise can stress them, and a boulevard adds traffic and hard pavement.

Family checklist

• Stand back from the curb. Stay on the sidewalk, with kids on the side away from the street. We found no official distance for this ride, so more space is better.
• Hold small hands. A child who darts out toward a horse can startle it and put themselves in its path.
• Never approach from behind. Horses can kick backward and to the side, and a rider in a costume may not see a small child.
• Ask before you touch. Riders may decline, and that's a good answer. Don't offer food.
• Keep it quiet nearby. No balloons, poppers or sudden flash right next to a horse. Hold onto anything that could flap in the wind.
• Leave dogs at home if you can, or keep them on a short leash well away from the route.
• If a horse acts up, move away calmly and don't run. Don't try to catch a loose horse yourself; let the riders handle it.

You can make it a lesson before you go. Our guide to horse safety for kids covers where to stand, and the safety section has more.

What to bring

• Comfortable walking shoes
• A jacket or sweater, since the coast gets windy late in the afternoon
• Cash for the food stalls

The festival runs past dark on the new clock time, so plan the walk back to your car, especially with little ones.

If you ride in a costume parade

This ride is run with a local riders' group, so ask its organizers about their rules first. These general tips from Horse Canada apply to any costume parade:

• Rehearse in costume so your horse has already seen and felt it.
• Keep it simple. Avoid masks and loose material that could tangle or flap in the wind.
• Prepare at home with flags, music, loud noises and walking on asphalt.
• Keep your spacing. You should be able to see the full length of the tail of the horse ahead.
• Have an exit. If your horse is too stressed, dismount and lead it.

For building that calm ahead of time, see how to desensitize a horse.

What to do and what to watch next

1. Confirm the start with IMAC if you want to see the departure.
2. Set your clocks back on Saturday night or Sunday morning.
3. Pick your spot: a stretch of Benito Juárez, or the Centro Cultural for the arrival, altars and food.
4. Stay for the close with Galia Medina and Danza de las Sombras.
5. Keep going: on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 3:00 p.m., the exhibition Entre Calacas, coplas y versos opens at the Galería de Puerto Nuevo.

This is only the festival's second edition, and last year's took place at a different venue. Keep an eye on how the riders and the Centro Cultural work together this year, because it may shape what comes next.