It might sound like a sad occasion, but Día de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a wonderful celebration of both life and death. In fact, UNESCO awarded the holiday “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” status in 2008. Contrary to what some people might think, Día de Los Muertos is not a Mexican version of Halloween. While the two annual events intertwine, there are vast differences in their traditions and observance.
Let’s look at how and why people mark Día de Los Muertos and how the celebration has changed since its ancient inception.
What Is Día de Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead?
Día de Los Muertos celebrates life as much as death. The two-day event allows people to pay homage to deceased family and friends while reaffirming the joys of life.
There are parades, songs, elaborate clothing, and offerings to those who have passed, like a family reunion with deceased family members as guests. Día de Los Muertos is full of color, celebration, and even humor and fun.
While Halloween overlaps with Day of the Dead, the former holiday leans toward terror, mischief, and fear of the dead.
Who Started the Day of the Dead?
Mexico’s indigenous Aztec, Nahua, and Toltec peoples believed death was an extension of life. Those who had passed were kept alive in spirit and a community’s collective memory.
A month-long summer celebration led by the goddess Mictecacihuatl, the Lady of the Dead, would see the deceased return to Earth temporarily.
The arrival of the Spanish heralded a change to the rituals and the invading Catholic Spanish tried to convert the locals to Christianity. Catholics mark All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on November 1 and 2, so the Día de Los Muertos became a mix of pre-Hispanic and Christian ideas on the dates we know today.
Is the Day of the Dead on November 1 or November 2?
The Day of the Dead stretches over the first and second of November. Things start at midnight on October 31, the start of November 1. This is Día de Los Angelitos, the day of the little angels. Families and friends build altars with offerings to welcome the spirits of deceased children, who are believed to be able to return more quickly to the living world.
The following midnight, which is November 1 leading into November 2, is the time for departed adults to come to Earth. This is known as Día de Los Difuntos and sparks fiestas with music, dancing, games, and drinking.
Noon on November 2 sees the start of Día de Los Muertos, the spirits of all the dead. This has become a more public occasion with parades and cemetery visits, with people dressed up and often sporting faces painted with skulls or skeletons. People may decorate and clean tombstones and graves, too.
Rituals of Día de Los Muertos
Welcoming back a loved one from the other side is a grand moment that celebrants of Día de Los Muertos mark in many ways. Altars, offerings, flowers, food, and drink all play a part in the festivities.
Day of the Dead Altars Explained
Altars, called “ofrendas” in Spanish, are one of the essential parts of the Day of the Dead. People construct them at home or in cemeteries to welcome spirits to the living world.
Relatives load their altars with offerings. Each has its own meaning and reason, making cemeteries and people’s homes awash with color.
An altar will be adorned with family photographs and candles for those who have passed. Toys may be left for children. A brightly-colored oil cloth full of natural and classical imagery may cover the table on which the altar sits, with photographs and personal items atop.
Lower down the altar, there is water to quench the dead person’s thirst after the journey from the other side, as well as food and perhaps some of the departed’s favorite drinks (such as tequila or mezcal).
Beautiful marigold flowers and petals are laid to form walkways to the altar to help guide the spirits back to the living world and their place of rest. The marigold’s scent is said to attract the souls of departed ones, and its petals represent the fragility of life. Indeed, marigolds are known as the “flor de muerto,” or the flower of the dead. People also burn incense to purify the area and send their prayers to the spirit world.
Altars may be covered with papel picado, or pierced paper, where elaborate designs are cut into paper. These are then hung on altars or festooned in streets. People also make or buy embossed sacred hearts to decorate the altar.
Día de Los Muertos: The Food of the Dead
Aside from the deceased’s favorite meal, altars include a sweet bread decorated with bones and skulls called pan de muerto, the bread of the dead. The bread’s “bones” might be made in a circular shape to symbolize the circle of life, or teardrops added to represent sorrow. It’s also common to see sugar skulls decorated in bright colors.
Aside from water, drinks like hot chocolate and atole—a creamy corn flour drink seasoned with sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla—are left too.
How Do People Celebrate El Día de Los Muertos?
The altar and ofrendas are significant parts of the Day of the Dead traditions. Many people will head to cemeteries to visit departed loved ones, make pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread) and sugar skulls, or host a large family meal. Some children also indulge in the Halloween tradition of asking for candies at neighboring houses.
Día de Los Muertos is a time of spectacular costumes, parades, and biting poetry. The skull theme permeates much of the Day of the Dead symbolism, from costumes to a poetic style. Calavera means skull in Spanish, and in the late 1700s to the early 1800s, calaveras became a literary style of short, funny, and sarcastic poems. Sometimes they mock the living and have become an art form in print and on TV and radio.
Mexicans love parading with alebrijes, mystical animals made by mixing creatures, such as a lizard with horns or wings or a dragon’s body with wolf’s eyes and bat wings. Alebrijes are dream-like creatures that decorate parades across the country.
Most famously, people dress up as skeletons and paint their faces to look like skulls before heading out to a parade or party. Some wear shells to add to the cacophony of noise. But the skulls are not just about the dead.
Why Are Skulls So Important on the Day of the Dead?
Calaveras (skulls) and calacas (skeletons) images dominate much of the Day of the Dead celebrations.
The most famous skull is that of Catrina, or La Calavera Catrina, to give her full name. Catrina, also known as the Elegant Skull, is the work of two artists.
In 1910, the printer and political cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada etched a skeleton wearing a large French-style bonnet with feathers and white makeup. Posada was famous for his skeleton drawings because he liked to remind everyone that, ultimately, we are all the same underneath and death is democratic. His bonnet-clad skull was a satirical statement about Mexicans shunning their heritage for European fashions.
In 1948, artist Diego Rivera, husband of Frida Kahlo, painted Posada’s skeleton fully dressed in his mural, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park.
He called her La Catrina, slang for elegant, well-dressed, or rich people. The figurine caught the public’s imagination, and there have been thousands of La Catrina interpretations ever since. La Catrina is Día de Los Muertos’ most common and striking symbol. Rivera’s mural is one of the most well-known Hispanic murals and you can see it in the Diego Rivera Mural Museum in Mexico City.
Nowadays, people paint their faces and dress elegantly to mimic La Catrina before heading to parties or cemeteries to participate in lively celebrations of the dead while also acknowledging Catrina’s doctrine of being true to oneself. Because, as Posada declared, we all end up as skeletons eventually.
How Do They Celebrate the Day of the Dead Across Mexico?
Different regions of Mexico have their own ways of marking the Day of the Dead.
Patzcuaro: People converge on the shores of Pátzcuaro Lake, then paddle canoes, each bearing a lit candle, to Janitzio island for an all-night vigil in an indigenous cemetery.
Aguascalientes: This is the birthplace of José Guadalupe Posada and is now home to a week-long Festival de Calaveras (Festival of Skulls). The highlight is a massive parade of skulls. Attendees can also enjoy music, theater, and art, as well as visit the National Museum of Death.
Oaxaca City: This city is famous for being home to one of Mexico’s biggest Día de Los Muertos celebrations.
Other locations: In Mixquic, the electricity is cut to create a unique ambiance from the candlelit processions and altars. Pomuch residents still adhere to an ancient Mayan rite of cleaning their deceased’s bones on Día de Los Muertos. In Tuxtepec, people make colorful sawdust carpets as part of the celebrations. These are just some of the ways different Mexican regions mark El Día de Los Muertos.
Where Is the Day of the Dead Celebrated?
Día de Los Muertos is most famously celebrated across Mexico. Other countries mark the dates too. These include Ecuador, Guatemala, Bolivia, the Philippines, Haiti, Peru, and El Salvador.
What Is the Color of Mourning in Mexico?
Color is essential to Mexico’s Day of the Dead. Here’s what the colors represent:
- Black: Death
- Yellow: Light
- Orange: Sun and the marigold flowers that act as a compass to guide the dead back to the living realm
- White: Light, hope, and purity
- Purple: Pain
- Red: The blood of life
- Pink: Joy and celebration
Is the Day of the Dead a Happy or Sad Celebration?
Mexicans grieve the passing of their loved ones as much as anyone. The Day of the Dead is a chance to imagine death as merely a stage of life. People dress in bright clothing, party with loved ones, and enjoy the days because they welcome back their departed. It’s a chance to once more be with those who have died.
Is Día de Los Muertos a National Holiday in Mexico?
November 1 is not a national holiday in Mexico. However, November 2, Día de Los Muertos, has been a national holiday in Mexico since the 1960s.
Which Movies Feature the Day of the Dead?
The growing global awareness of the Day of the Dead is reflected in its increased appearance in movies and popular culture.
The James Bond film “Spectre” opened with a chase scene through a Day of the Dead parade, while “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” contains a pivotal scene. There is a documentary called “Day of the Dead: A Celebration of Life.” More silver screen offerings include “Assassins,” “Under the Volcano,” and, last but not least, the brilliant Disney and Pixar blockbuster animation “Coco.”
What Is the Mexican Tradition When Someone Dies?
In Mexico, family and friends gather 24-48 hours after someone’s death. There is food and drinking, and people may bring gifts. Celebrations like a wake may occur following a burial, with people remembering the deceased and providing each other with comfort, and perhaps echoes of the Day of the Dead festivities.
Día de Los Muertos: For the Dead and the Living
Día de Los Muertos is a visually inspiring and culturally-rich tradition that stretches back to the Aztecs. The day allows people to create a bridge between the living and the dead and sustain the belief that dying is part of being alive.
People make a lot of effort to commemorate and celebrate their departed loved ones. These endeavors feel more poignant because the festivities occur among family and friends still in the realm of the living.
This holistic approach to the circle of life brings many people comfort and joy in what can be the saddest of times. And, as Mary Ann Evans wrote under her pen name of George Eliot, “Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.”
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