Roberta

While both “Día de Muertos” and “Día de los muertos” are correct ways of naming this holiday, it is much more common in Mexico to call it “Día de Muertos”.

This holiday is a mixture of prehispanic and catholic festivities, so there’s no one single way to celebrate it and you will likely see odd juxtapositions of indigenous traditions with catholic saints (even the dates were altered from the original Aztec celebrations during May).

While we will give you a rundown of how it’s celebrated in Mexico, bear in mind other countries (especially in Latin America) also celebrate their own version of this date.

Likewise, some places across Mexico start celebrating since mid-October. Some states, for example, have special days dedicated to specific types of deaths starting October 28 (i.e. accident, sickness, etc). Some start preparing on the October 31st, but the most common date recognized in the whole country is Nov 1 (for deceased children) and Nov 2 (the main date - for adults)

The main purpose of this holiday is to remember and celebrate the people who passed away, by putting offerings (ofrendas) at home or the graveyard. While we do this in company of our living loved ones, we don’t make a feast or gathering expressly for the living (as you would do for Christmas or Thanksgiving).

While there’s nothing wrong with wearing makeup or dressing up as “catrinas”, that’s not the main purpose of this holiday. Without an offering or remembering those who died, would it really be a celebration of Día de Muertos or would it be only a Mexican-themed Halloween?

Art is a huge part of this holiday as well. Crafting the decorations for the altars/ofrendas can be a monumental task for some. What we usually make for decorations at home is: adorned paper known as “papel picado”, cempasúchil flowers, sugar/amaranth/chocolate skulls, as well as paper/carboard skeletons that are usually dressed (we’ll show you some examples in future posts). Some even create big arcs of flowers. However, we don’t make wreaths to decorate the door.

While we’re talking about those who died, this isn’t a solemn holiday. It’s a happy occasion to reunite with our dead loved ones. And since it’s a joyous celebration, we make fun of those who haven’t died through poems called “Calaveritas” (or calaveritas literarias). These poems often depict Death looking to take new souls away in a funny way (Death can be successful or not at this).

The movie “Coco” was loved by many Mexicans and it’s now customary to find the movie on local TV channels during Día de Muertos. However, one of the things that have nothing to do with this celebration are the alebrijes (depicted above is Pepita). Alebrijes are fantastical artisanal figures traditionally created with cardboard or wood techniques, combining different animals. However, these are a more modern creation, with a lot of people looking to give them a more profound meaning.

Last but not least, ofrendas or altars don’t have to be exclusively made for our dead relatives or friends. We often create collective ofrendas to honor famous figures (the picture below “setting up the altar” is for Frida Kahlo at her home/museum). So you want to make one for a dead artist you loved? A famous figure you admired? It’s totally okay.