The original celebration can be traced to the festivities held during the Aztec month of Miccailhuitontli, ritually presided by the goddess Mictecacihuatl (“Lady of the Dead”) and dedicated to children and the dead. The rituals during this month also featured a festivity dedicated to the major Aztec war deity, Huitzilopochtli. The ritual usually fell at the end of July, beginning of August, but in the post conquest era it was moved by Spanish priests so that it coincided with the Christian holiday All Hallows Eve. The result is that Mexicans now celebrate the day of the dead during the first tow days of November. The modern festivity is characterized by the traditional Mexican blend of ancient aboriginal and introduced Christian features.

Families decorate graves and the cemetery. There is an abundance of food and drinks. Altars are profusely decorated with flowers, and adorned with religious amulets of food, cigarettes, and alcoholic beverages. The meals prepared for this holiday are sumptuous, usually featuring meat dishes in spicy sauces, special egg-batter bread, cookies, chocolate, and sugary confections in a variety of animal or skull shapes. Candles are lit all day long.

Two important things to know about the Mexican Day of the Dead are: it is a holiday with a complex history, degree of urbanization, and it is not a morbid occasion, but rather a festive time.

Because of this warm social environment, the colorful setting, and the abundance of food, drink, and good company this commemoration of the dead has pleasant overtones for most observer, in spite of the open fatalism exhibited by all participants, whose festive interaction with living and the dead.