Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos): traditions, vocabulary and respectful lesson ideas

What is the Day of the Dead?

El Día de Muertos is Mexico’s festival for remembering family and friends who have died. It takes place mainly on 1 and 2 November, when, according to tradition, the souls of the dead come back to visit the living. Families set up an altar at home, decorate graves and share food, music and stories.

It is neither sad nor scary: death is treated as part of life, and the dead as guests to be welcomed home. In 2008, UNESCO inscribed the Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Both Día de Muertos and Día de los Muertos are correct. In Mexico the shorter form is the usual one; the longer form is common in the United States and in many textbooks.

The dates

1. 1 November. In many regions, the day for children who have died, often called Día de los Angelitos. It coincides with All Saints’ Day, Día de Todos los Santos.
2. 2 November. The day for adults who have died and, in most places, the main day. It coincides with All Souls’ Day, Día de los Fieles Difuntos.
3. Before and after. Customs vary between regions and communities: some begin in late October, and the altar often stays up for several days.

The two days are not statutory public holidays in Mexico, but the festival is observed nationwide, with especially rich traditions in states such as Michoacán and Oaxaca.

Origins: two traditions woven together

Before the Spanish conquest, the peoples of Mesoamerica, including the Mexica (Aztecs), honoured their dead with rituals and offerings; the Mexica spoke of Mictlán, the land of the dead. The Spanish brought the Catholic feasts of All Saints and All Souls. Over the centuries the two merged, differently in each region.

Be wary of neat stories about a single ancient origin: historians still debate how much is pre-Hispanic, colonial or modern. Some famous images are recent: La Catrina dates from the twentieth century, and Mexico City’s big parade was first held in 2016, after a similar scene in the James Bond film Spectre.

The traditions, one by one

The ofrenda

The ofrenda (offering) is an altar set up at home, and also in schools and public squares, for people who have died. It usually includes:

• photos of the people being remembered
• velas (candles) to light their way
• flores de cempasúchil, orange Mexican marigolds whose colour and scent are said to guide the souls, often scattered as a path of petals
• papel picado, colourful tissue paper cut into patterns
• copal, a tree resin burnt as incense
• water for the souls, thirsty after their journey
• pan de muerto and the favourite food and drink of each person
• calaveras de azúcar, sugar skulls, sometimes with a name written on the forehead

Many altars have several tiers, with meanings that vary by region. The souls are believed to take in the essence of the food; the family eats it afterwards.

At the cemetery

Families clean and decorate graves, and in many places spend the night of 1 to 2 November there. Well-known vigils take place in Mixquic, in Mexico City, and on the island of Janitzio, on Lake Pátzcuaro in Michoacán. In Mexico a cemetery is often called el panteón.

Calaveras

Calavera means skull. It also names the calaveras literarias: humorous rhyming verses imagining a living person, often a politician or a friend, as dead. Newspapers publish them and Mexican pupils write them at school. In some places children go from door to door asking ¿Me da mi calaverita? for a few coins or sweets.

Pan de muerto

A sweet, round bread, often flavoured with orange blossom, topped with dough bones and dusted with sugar; shapes vary by region. It is often eaten with hot chocolate.

La Catrina

The elegant female skeleton in a wide, feathered hat began as La Calavera Garbancera, a satirical print by the engraver José Guadalupe Posada, made shortly before his death in 1913. It mocked Mexicans who hid their Indigenous roots behind European fashions. Diego Rivera gave her a full body, a feather boa and the name Catrina in his 1947 mural Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central. A catrín is a dandy; a catrina, a well-dressed lady.

Day of the Dead, Halloween and All Saints

The skulls are not there to frighten: Halloween plays with fear, the Day of the Dead welcomes loved ones home. The two now meet, as Halloween spreads in Mexico and Catrina masks fill Halloween shops, which is why it matters to keep them apart in class.

In Spain, 1 November is Todos los Santos, a national holiday: families visit cemeteries, eat buñuelos and huesos de santo, and theatres traditionally stage Don Juan Tenorio. Spain does not traditionally celebrate the Day of the Dead.

Beyond Mexico

Other countries have their own customs around these dates: giant kites (barriletes gigantes) and the dish fiambre in Guatemala; colada morada and bread dolls (guaguas de pan) in Ecuador; bread figures (t’antawawas) in Bolivia and Peru. Don’t present Mexican customs as “what Latin America does”.

Day of the Dead vocabulary

Pronunciation: cempasúchil, from Nahuatl, is stressed on the ú: “sem-pa-SOO-cheel” (with a th for the c in most of Spain). In muertos, ue is one syllable: “MWEHR-tos”. Alma is feminine but takes el in the singular, like el agua: el alma, las almas.

El 2 de noviembre las familias visitan el panteón.On 2 November families visit the cemetery.

En la ofrenda ponemos fotos, velas y flores de cempasúchil.On the altar we put photos, candles and marigolds.

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• “Mexican Halloween”: it is a different festival, with a different meaning.
• Spain and Mexico mixed up: the Day of the Dead is not traditionally Spanish.
• Capitals: Día de Muertos takes capitals, the date does not: el 2 de noviembre.
• “La alma”: it is el alma in the singular, but the word stays feminine: las almas, esta alma.
• Calavera or esqueleto: skull versus skeleton.

In class: teaching the Day of the Dead respectfully

1. No costume caricatures. Leave out sombreros, ponchos and fake moustaches. Catrina face paint is common in Mexico today, but a decorated paper skull teaches as much without turning a culture into fancy dress.
2. Keep it apart from Halloween. Teach it on its own dates, or as an explicit comparison.
3. Protect grieving pupils. Never ask pupils to dedicate work to a relative: build a class ofrenda for a figure such as Frida Kahlo, and let anyone opt out.
4. Describe, don’t enact. Explain what families believe and do; don’t ask pupils to perform a ritual.

A short routine for 1 or 2 November:

1. Show the date: Hoy es 2 de noviembre. Ask ¿Qué se celebra hoy en México?
2. Show a photo of an ofrenda. Pupils name what they see: Veo velas, flores, fotos…
3. Ask ¿Para qué son las flores? Reveal: Para guiar a las almas.
4. Compare: ¿Es como Halloween? No, es diferente porque…

For a longer project, label a class ofrenda in Spanish or write a gentle calavera literaria about a fictional character.

Adapting to your class

• A1Name the objects: Es una vela. Son flores.
• A2Describe the ofrenda: En la ofrenda hay fotos y pan de muerto.
• B1Describe a person in the imperfect: Frida Kahlo pintaba autorretratos.
• B2Compare and give opinions: Me parece bonito que las familias recuerden a sus muertos.

At KS2, marigolds, candles and papel picado are plenty. At KS3, the imperfect finds a natural home in describing the people remembered. At GCSE, the festival feeds cultural comparison.

Frequently asked questions