Important civic processions of a more solemn and stately nature took place during the innumerable state funerals of the Porfiriato. When a distinguished statesman, illustrious general, or renowned man of letters passed away, the federal government decreed periods of mourning, issued thousands of mortuary announcements to friends of the deceased, and posted broadsheets on street corners that invited citizens to attend the funeral obsequies. In preparation for the solemn procession through the streets, high officials established the processional route and order of march, asked businesses to close shop, modified streetcar schedules, and draped the city in mourning black. Every available public servant and soldier was asked to join President Díaz in escorting the elegant hearse to the cemetery. Popular attendance depended greatly on three variables: the organizational efforts of the federal government, the day of the week the funeral was held, and the reputation of the deceased hero. For the state funerals of General Jesus Gonzólez Ortega, former presidents Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada and Manuel González, statesman Manuel Romero Rubio, and General Mariano Escobedo attendance easily exceeded 100,000 citizens.

State funerals were special civic celebrations that evoked both the emotional power and aesthetic expression of Mexico during its belle époque. In 1895 the government exhumed the remains of the 13 Independence heroes from the Altar de los Reyes in the Nacional Cathedral and reburied them in another splendid ceremony. Patriotic and mutualist societies purchased a special urn to contain the venerated remains. Minister of the Interior Manuel Romero Rubio commissioned a special monument to be erected to the heroes. And Federal District employees decorated the city with black crepe, tricolor bunting, and national flags. The great procession took place on July 30, the anniversary of the execution of Miguel Hidalgo, the father of Mexican Independence. The urn containing the skulls and bones of Hidalgo, Morelos, Allende, and other heroes was placed on a long railroad platform car, elegantly decorated with black velvet and roses, and pulled through the streets by magnificent black steeds. President Díaz, government officials, and delegations of patriotic and working-class societies followed reverently. Lining the processional route, thousands of citizens, their hats in their hands, watched the sacred relics pass before them. Silence was interrupted every 15 minutes by the distant boom of cannon fired from the Ciudadela. The cortege returned to the cathedral and the urn was interred in a crypt beneath the Capilla de San José. In 1903, a similar procession was held in honor of insurgent leader Nicolás Bravo, whose remains were brought from Chilpancingo, Guerrero, and deposited with those of the other Independence heroes.