Originally published on Fest300.com

San Francisco celebrates Dia de Los Muertos in a myriad of ways, the most jubilant being the Procession and Festival of Altars that takes place in the Mission this Saturday, 11/2. If you go, don't be a wallflower, our friends at Fest300 put together this amazing (and easy!) makeup tutorial inspired by skulls, the most iconic image of the festival.

The Aztecs believed that life and death coexist, and that death is merely a gateway to an ascension of consciousness, a rebirth into higher being. In Mexico, this belief is manifested in Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. The holiday is celebrated in graveyards, where graves are decorated with marigolds, candles, crosses and powerful Aztec symbols such as skulls.

Traditionally, to make calaveras (sugar skulls), granulated white sugar is pressed into skull-shaped molds, then colorfully decorated, each containing the name of a departed one. These are placed on graves and altars in remembrance. Some sugar skulls have inspired a whole range of cultural art based upon this tradition.

Fest300 invited burlesque performer extraordinaire Bunny Pistol to give a tutorial on doing makeup inspired by calaveras. Now, you can participate in the dance of the living dead!

Dia de los Muertos celebration, Saturday 11/2, 6-11 p.m., Garfield Park, 26th & Harrison Streets