Women adorned with skulls and marigold flowers perform in Mexico City's Day of the Dead parade. With a procession almost a mile long (1.5 kilomters), this year's parade was three times as large as last year's maiden effort.

Rescue workers kicked off the parade, processing behind a fist float made of helmets, pick axes and rubble. The raised fist was the signal used by rescue workers asking for silence to hear if people were trapped beneath rubble caused by the September 19 quake that killed 228 people.

Women twirl around in skirts made of paper skull-cutouts. Over 700 performers prepared for months for the colorful parade. September's devastating earthquakes prompted some last-minute changes to the program.

Local media reported that around 300,000 people came out to see the colorful parade on Saturday, compared to 200,000 last year.

One performer scatters marigold-colored confetti from a parade float. Orange marigold flowers are sometimes called the "Flower of the Dead" as they are thought to attract the souls of those who have passed. Some families leave trails of marigold petals in a path to their doorways so the spirits can find their way home.

With trumpets, drums and trombones, skeleton-faced musicians played traditional Mexican folk songs along the parade route.

Many performers and participants painted their faces as colorful skulls in the style of Mexico's iconic "La Catrina" skeleton figure. "We're not only here to celebrate and dance, but also when there's a disastrous situation we come together to help," Violeta Canella Juarez, a 31-year-old attending the parade said.

Many cultures have a holiday for which people put on costumes and take to the streets. In Germany's western Rhineland region, this is Karneval, known here as the "Fifth Season." It even has its own greetings, like "Alaaf" and "Helau." On "Rosenmontag" (Rose Monday), people dress up to see the large parades in Cologne or Düsseldorf, where political satire floats alternate with dance troupes.

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Carnival is the biggest party of the year. The city's approximately 200 Samba schools participate in the "Desfile das Escolas de Samba" (Samba School Parade) with dancers in intricate costumes, colorful floats and drumlines. The tradition was originally introduced by Portuguese settlers. Festivities start on the Saturday before Lent and end the following Tuesday.

The "Carnevale di Venezia" in Venice, Italy, is famous for its elaborate masks and costumes. The festival's origins are believed to go as far back as the 12th century. Today, the carnival starts ten days before Ash Wednesday with the "Flight of the Angel," where a person secured with a steel rope descends onto the Piazza San Marco from the Campanile, the belltower of St. Mark's Basilica.

New Orleans in the Southern state of Louisiana is home to the gaudiest Carnival celebration in the US. On "Mardi Gras" (Fat Tuesday), the day before Ash Wednesday, and for about two weeks before that, there is at least one big parade a day. They are organized by the so-called krewes, who ride large floats and toss strings of colorful plastic beads into the audience.

The rest of the US doesn't dress up for Carnival, but for spooky-themed Halloween on October 31. The name is derived from All Hallow's Eve, the day before All Saints' Day. While children go "trick-or-treating" from door to door asking for candy, adults dress up for Halloween parties and parades. The most notorious one is the Village Halloween Parade in New York City.

The "Dias de los Muertos" (Days of the Dead) are celebrated in Mexico from October 31 to November 2. People honor their dead family members by decorating their graves. Parades have started to spring up as well. Some women dress up as Catrina, the "Skeleton Lady," other participants wear demon costumes or put on skull make-up. Sugar skulls are given as gifts to the living as well as the dead.

The biggest festival in China - and in Chinatowns the world over - is the Lunar New Year. It's celebrated from the last day of the last month to the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese calendar. Chinese travel long distances to be with their families for the Spring Festival, as it's also known. Firecrackers are lit and lion or dragon dances can be seen in rural areas or at temple fairs.

Jewish communities around the world celebrate Purim, which commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in ancient Persia, in the sixth month of the Jewish calendar. They go to the synagogue to listen to a reading from the Book of Esther, then exchange gifts and eat with the family. There are also parades in Jewish communities, some guarded by heavy security.