Día de Muertos: the Mexican festival at which the dead return to feast
In Mexico, death wears colourful clothing. On 1 and 2 November, families invite the dead to a feast, and cemeteries are transformed into places of gathering, music and remembrance.
Ezostylia Editorial Team · facts checked in sources · updated 31.10.2026
A meeting of two worlds
Día de Muertos unites the beliefs of the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican peoples, who venerated the dead and the goddess of death Mictecacihuatl, with the Catholic feasts of All Saints and Zaduszki. On 1 November the deceased children are remembered, and on 2 November the adults.
In 2008, UNESCO inscribed the indigenous celebrations of the Day of the Dead on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Ofrenda: an altar for the dead
In homes, offering altars are built. Photographs of the deceased are placed upon them, along with candles, favourite foods and drinks, the sweet bread pan de muerto, and orange marigold flowers (cempasúchil), whose intense colour and fragrance are meant to guide the souls on their way home.
Sugar skulls and La Catrina
Calaveras, colourful skulls made of sugar or chocolate, often have names written on their foreheads — including those of the living. The most celebrated figure of the festival is La Catrina, an elegantly dressed skeletal lady in a feathered hat. She was drawn in the early twentieth century by the graphic artist José Guadalupe Posada as a satire on Mexicans who imitated Europeans, and her name was popularised by the painter Diego Rivera.
What it can teach us
In Poland in November we are quiet and solemn; in Mexico people are loud and joyful. Yet both traditions say the same thing: the dead live on as long as we remember them. Pixar's 2017 film Coco brought this idea to the whole world.
Read more
You will find all 30 topics in the section Mysteries of life and death.
Want to ask your own question? Ask Luna or draw a card of the day.
Sources
UNESCO: Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead · Day of the Dead, Wikipedia
Frequently asked questions
When is the Mexican Day of the Dead?
The main celebrations fall on 1 November (deceased children) and 2 November (adults), although in many regions the preparations begin as early as the end of October.
Who is La Catrina?
She is an elegantly dressed skeletal lady in a hat, drawn in the early twentieth century by José Guadalupe Posada; today she is the best-known symbol of Día de Muertos.