A few days after Halloween each year, San Franciscans paint their faces like skulls, light candles, and head to the Mission for their interpretation of the Day of the Dead. In Mexico, families gather over gravesites to reflect on the dead with food and music. Yet San Francisco has tweaked the tradition with Burning Man DIY creativity and an aesthetic that borrows as much from Tim Burton as it does from popular Mexican art. Aztec dancers lead the procession of eclectic musical groups and elaborately costumed dancers. The mass eventually flows into Garfield Park, where people visit local artists' altars to the deceased that glow in the night and write messages to loved ones who have passed on. It's not just the best event for the dead; it might be the city's most soulful offering for the living, too.