What goes on a Día de Muertos altar?

Orange cempasúchil marigolds, candles, a photo of the person, pan de muerto, sugar skulls often with a name on the forehead, the dead person's favourite dish, and paper cut-outs; families also lay petals, candles and offerings from the cemetery to the house so the souls find their way. Details vary.

What goes on the altar

Light and flowers

  • el cempasúchil orange marigolds — From the Nahuatl word for the marigold, "twenty flowers".
  • la vela a candle

Food for the visitors

  • el pan de muerto a sweet round bread with bone shapes on top
  • la calavera de azúcar a sugar skull, often with a name on the forehead
  • el plato favorito the dead person's favourite dish — In the piece, grandfather's mole.
  • tortillas y tamales corn tortillas and tamales — UNESCO names them among Day of the Dead offerings.

Memory and craft

  • la foto a photo of the person
  • el papel picado paper cut-outs — UNESCO lists "typical handicrafts, such as paper cut-outs".

The path home

  • los pétalos petals, candles and offerings laid from the cemetery to the house — So the souls find their way, as UNESCO describes it.
  • A home altar holds flowers, candles and photos; the flowers are orange cempasúchil, and there is pan de muerto and sugar skulls.
  • Families lay flower petals, candles and offerings along the path from the cemetery to their homes, and set the favourite dishes of the dead around the home shrine and the tomb, with flowers and handicrafts such as paper cut-outs.
En la casa hay un altar con flores, velas y fotos.

In the house there is an altar with flowers, candles and photos.

También hay pan de muerto y calaveras de azúcar.

There is also pan de muerto and sugar skulls.

More about Día de Muertos

Sources

  1. El Día de Muertos — The Day of the Dead
  2. Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead — UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
  3. Traditional Mexican cuisine - ancestral, ongoing community culture, the Michoacán paradigm — UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage