A celebration of remembrance
Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is a Mexican tradition of remembering family members and friends who have died. It is often seen alongside Halloween, but it is a different occasion: warm, family-centred and full of colour, with the dead welcomed home as honoured guests rather than feared.
When it happens
The main days are 1 and 2 November, which coincide with All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in the Catholic calendar. Many communities remember children who have died on 1 November and adults on 2 November, and preparations begin in the last days of October. This countdown runs to the start of 1 November on your own clock and shows the celebration lasting until the end of 2 November.
Ofrendas, marigolds and calaveras
At the heart of the celebration is the ofrenda, a home altar arranged with photographs of the dead, candles, copal incense and the food and drink they loved, often with pan de muerto and sugar skulls (calaveras de azúcar). Orange cempasúchil marigolds are laid on altars and graves; their colour and scent are said to guide the spirits home. Families also clean and decorate graves and spend time, sometimes the whole night, in the cemetery.
The elegant skeleton known as La Catrina comes from an early twentieth-century satirical print by the Mexican engraver José Guadalupe Posada and has become one of the celebration’s best-known images.
Recognised by UNESCO
In 2008 UNESCO inscribed the “Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead” on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. UNESCO describes it as practised by Mexico’s Indigenous communities to mark the return of deceased relatives, and as coinciding with the end of the annual maize harvest.
Taking part respectfully
Visitors are often welcome at public celebrations, but ofrendas and graves are personal. Ask before photographing people or family altars, and remember that, for many, this is a time of mourning as well as of celebration.