Is it true that the photo shows a drone show during the Day of the Dead in Mexico?

A photo allegedly taken in Mexico City during the 2021 Day of the Dead celebrations is being circulated on social media. We have verified the authenticity of this photo.

About the drones that formed the figure of a skull in a sombrero in the sky over Mexico City, November 2, 2021 told "Pikabu" on its official page on VKontakte. Popular public pages shared the photo on the same social network. "Zen" And I love art — in total, about 4.5 million people subscribe to them. Users also posted the photo on their pages. Facebook, Twitter, LiveJournal and other social networks.

In 2020 the authorities called Mexicans stayed at home during the holiday, colorful parades were canceled, and entrances to cemeteries were closed. A year later Day of the Dead passed in the usual format, however, we were unable to find any press reports about the drone show organized as part of the celebration.

The photograph allegedly depicting the show became popular not only in Russian social networks. How found out our colleagues from the authoritative fact-checking project Snopes, the picture at least does not depict the events of 2021 - it appeared on social networks a year earlier. At the same time, drone flights in Mexico allowed only during the daytime.

Moreover, the city and mountain depicted in the photograph are located on the other side of the world. The basis of the image that went viral on social networks was a slightly modified snapshot by Flickr user koshi chiba, taken back in 2014. Judging by the caption and tags, in the photo we see the famous Japanese Mount Fuji, taken from an observation deck near the city of Kofu. The drones that formed the figure of a skull in the sky, apparently, were added to the picture using editing, but, unfortunately, it was not possible to find the author of the image.

Update 4/11/2021: The primary source of the photo, apparently, was a rendering from a Russian company GeoScan, which deals with drones and, in particular, organizes shows with the participation of aircraft. On October 5, 2020, the company published on its Instagram photograph with drones arranged in the shape of a skull and the caption: “Different cultures require different ways to demonstrate their values, feelings and heritage. For example, Mexico will soon celebrate the Day of the Dead. <…>. Imagine what an amazing drone light show could look like at one of the celebration events!”

Two days later the company posted on his Instagram another photo dedicated to what a drone show might look like on the Mexican Day of the Dead. It was this that went viral on the Internet a year later.

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Snopes. Day of the Dead Drone Art?
2. Is it true that the Day of the Dead Parade in Mexico originated from the James Bond film?