8 Ways to Celebrate Dia De Los Muertos This Year

A key part of Dia de los Muertos is building and decorating altars, called ofrendas, to honor deceased loved ones. These can be built at homes or in workplaces.

Cooking and eating traditional Dia de los Muertos foods is another way to honor the departed. This can include dishes like tamales and mole, as well as sweet treats like calavera sugar skulls and champurrado.

1. Build and Decorate Your Ofrenda

A ofrenda is a shrine that honors loved ones who have passed away. It can be as simple or complex as you like. Traditionally, it is covered with a tablecloth or blanket and contains photos of your loved ones along with other objects and food that represent their interests. It also includes a glass of water to quench the thirst of the souls who make their journey back on November 1 and 2. Cempasuchil flowers (marigolds) are another symbol of life and death, and candles represent fire. Papel picado (tissue paper cutouts) also feature prominently on ofrendas, as they symbolize wind.

If you’re ready to build your ofrenda, start with a flat surface like a table and cover it with a brightly colored tablecloth or blanket. You can even use a serape, a long shawl that is often used during celebrations in Mexican culture. Next, add crates and boxes for levels to achieve the tiered look. A sarape can also be used to cover the ofrenda after it is built.

2. Make and Hang Papel Picado

Papel picado (perforated paper) is a beautiful form of Mexican folk art. It is used to decorate spaces, including ofrendas, that honor loved ones who have passed away. These colorful banners symbolize the fragility of life and serve as a reminder that death is a natural part of the cycle.

During Day of the Dead celebrations, many people visit cemeteries to clean and decorate grave sites with flowers and gifts. They also leave foods and drinks for their departed family members. These ofrendas and grave sites serve as homecomings for spirits during this time.

The most common symbols associated with Dia de los Muertos include calavera painted faces and skeletons, marigold flowers, pan de muerto, papel picado, and the iconic image of La Catrina. Monarch butterflies are also a popular symbol of the holiday, as they return to Mexico each year around this time.

To make papel picado, start by printing and cutting out the template. Try experimenting with different shapes, sizes, and colors. Once you've gotten the hang of it, you can ditch the template and create your own unique patterns!

3. Bake Bread of the Dead

Skeletons and bones are an important symbol of Dia de los Muertos, known as El Da de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. From the skeleton-shaped cookies called pan dulce to the sugar skulls and flowers that decorate ofrendas, this theme is present throughout the celebration.

A key element of an ofrenda is pan de muerto, a light and sweet yeasted bread that can be shaped into either round loaves or smaller rounds of dough. Traditionally spiced with anise and brushed with an orange glaze after baking, this yeasty bread is topped with “bones” made from strips of dough that are arranged in a circle to symbolize the cycle of life.

The topping is easy to make and adds a unique visual to this delicious Mexican bread. To create your own version of this popular bread, simply divide the dough into a larger portion and a few small portions, then roll each piece into a rope that’s about 12 inches long. You should end up with four little nobbies that look remarkably like a pile of bones!

4. Serve a Delicious Feast

The Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) takes place on November 1 and 2, honoring departed loved ones. The celebration has roots in Indigenous Mesoamerican culture and later incorporated traditions from Spain and Catholicism.

While some conflate it with Halloween, which is also celebrated in Mexico and among Mexican-Americans, Dia de los Muertos is actually a festive, joyous holiday. During this time, families build ofrendas in their homes, share stories and food, decorate their ancestors' graves with bright orange marigolds (known as cempasuchil), and attend festivals and parades.

Bakeries start selling pan de muerto (bread of the dead) a week or so in advance, as it's an important part of an ofrenda. It's a delicious, spongy sweet bread decorated with bone-shaped sugar and skeleton imagery.

Skeleton art, called calaveras, is also popular for the day. Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada's illustrations of skeletons wearing the fashions of high society have become iconic symbols for the holiday. Originally, his calaveras were satirical caricatures of Mexico's elite class.

5. Honor Departed Loved Ones

For many, Dia de los Muertos is a holiday that celebrates and honors deceased family members. Unlike Halloween, where this Latin American tradition is often confused with a party atmosphere and calavera catrina makeup, families honor their loved ones by building home altars called ofrendas, memorializing them through special photographs and items, and sharing stories. They also visit cemeteries, clean and decorate family graves, and enjoy a feast that includes pan de muerto.

Food is a crucial part of the celebration because it’s believed that during those two days, the borders between the living and spirit worlds are at their weakest. Typically, ofrendas include favorite dishes and drinks of the deceased like mole negro (a slow-cooked sauce made with cocoa beans, chiles, chocolate, onions, and garlic) in Oaxaca, pozole in Mexico City, chilaquiles in Puebla, or calabaza en tacha (candied pumpkin cooked in syrup) in Yucatan.

Papel picado is also used to honor the dead as it reflects the fragility of life and shows up in most of the celebrations, including on ofrendas. Other decorations, such as calavera painted faces and sugar skulls, are often included on the ofrendas and worn in celebratory parades.

6. Dress in a Traditional Day of the Dead Costume

Unlike the ghostly blacks and whites of Halloween, vibrant colors are a huge part of Day of the Dead celebrations. The bright orange flower cempasuchil (marigold) is particularly important because it was believed that the spirits of departed loved ones would use them to guide them back home.

Dress in a floral sugar skull costume for a burst of color that represents the beauty and transience of life. You could also opt to dress up as a Catrina, the elegant Lady of Death. This iconic character was inspired by Jose Guadalupe Posada’s etching and became the most recognizable face of Dia de los Muertos.

This girl’s costume is a ravishing red that will fit right in with the celebration’s parades and festivities. She can even wear it to school, too!

7. Visit the Graves of Loved Ones

For many families, visiting the graves of loved ones is an important part of Dia de los Muertos. Oftentimes, these visits are very private and focused on remembrance. It is believed that during these two days, the borders between the living and dead are at their weakest, allowing the spirits to return to drink, dance, and feast with their loved ones.

The spirit of this holiday is captured in a number of famous works of art, including Jose Guadalupe Posada’s La Calavera Catrina etching and Disney’s Coco movie. These iconic images show up in decorations, makeup designs and more during Dia de los Muertos. Additionally, monarch butterflies are known to flock to Mexico annually around this time, and their image is used in the celebration as a symbol of life and death.

Nursing students can celebrate this holiday by participating in the traditions of their cultural heritage and creating an ofrenda at home, or by traveling to an organized event. It’s also an opportunity to teach students about the differences between a culture’s beliefs and practices in relation to loss, grief and remembrance.

8. Travel to an Organized Dia de los Muertos Event

In a town like Pomuch, Mexico, the celebrations of Dia de los Muertos include contests for the best-dressed Catrina, top-notch Day of the Dead imagery, and best altar. It’s an incredibly community-focused holiday, and the town even has its own version of Choo Ba’ak—the ritual where locals carefully exhume and hand-clean human bones that have been buried for three years or more.

To bring a bit of this spirit into the workplace, host a movie night with a Day of the Dead-themed film. The Mexican animations Coco and The Book of Life are both fun options. Set out snacks and drinks, then block out any windows with dark blinds to create the perfect viewing environment.

Organize a craft session that encourages teammates to get creative with traditional Dia de los Muertos items, such as papel picado, paper flowers, and skull masks. Set up a table in a large open area and provide materials for participants to work with. Encourage them to create something unique by setting a timer and then judging the final results.