Day of the Dead, Oaxaca City, Mexico  November Celebration In Oaxaca, Mexico  
The Day of the Dead
Festival is one of
Oaxaca's most
important celebrations,
rivaling only Easter and
Christmas in
importance.
A visit to the cemeteries near Oaxaca on the first two nights of November can be a magical time because
of the thousands of candles, the pungent scent of marigold flowers, and the essence of burning copal
incense.  Each village celebrates at different times and with different intensity but the evenings can be
ones of magic as the families chant the ancient dirges and wait for the spirits to return.
Flowers and candles make the cemeteries mysterious places during the November vigil for the spirits.
Flowers decorate the home altars and tombs. Marigold is the flower with a special meaning that goes
back to pre-Hispanic times. The marigold is called the Fleur de Meurto, the flower of death, and often a
trail of marigold petals will point the way for the wandering spirit.  In the evening the family sits by the tomb
and light thousands of candles that they hope will guide the returning spirits.
In the old cemetery of XoXo Cotlon, candles light the night as families sit by the tombs.
In the town of Tlalixtac south of Oaxaca City the families sit by                           
the decorated tombs while brass bands move through the cemetery
The Day of the Dead in Oaxaca City  Mexico is an exciting time
of festival, music, parades. performance. art, and regional
cuisine.
Cemetery vigils at candle-lit tombs make Oaxaca unique.
Oaxaca Mexico is a magical place to be during The Day Of The Dead
celebration.
In one of the most important events of the year in Oaxaca, a cemetery visit on
the last night of October and the first night of November might leave you
wondering how it all began. The cemetery full of candlelight and the aroma of
copal incense mixed with the heady scent of marigold flowers converging with
the mournful dirges and soulful guitars could overload your senses on your first
visit.

Where did it start?
Go back two thousand or more years and you would find some connections.
The indigenous people of Oaxaca sit by the tombs in their night time  cemetery
vigil and offer gifts to the spirits just as they have done for countless centuries.
The Spanish found them participating in this ritual and tried to introduce
European and Christian overtones.  They never totally subdued the pagan ritual.
Being practical and having limited space in the cemetery the people start by
cleaning and decorating the tombs during the day, a sight in itself.  If a tomb is
not tended it will be reused by another family.  
During the afternoon of October 31, tons of marigold flowers come to the
cemetery in wheelbarrows and trucks to adorn the grave sites.
Meanwhile, in each home, the people will also have created an altar (offering
table) stacked high with treats like chocolate, loaves of special bread, candies
fruit and all the other treats that the departed enjoyed in life; they are trying to
attract the spirit of their loved one.
Gifts of food and drink like these are not without precedent; archaeologists find
residue of them in ancient tombs.

Visitors are welcome in the Oaxaca cemeteries and the people hope that the
guest will appreciate their decorations of the home altar and their candle-lit
tomb. They hope also that the decorations and treats will attract the spirits.
Oaxaca City celebrates the lead up to the November event with music in the
streets,gallery openings with Oaxacan art, museum exhibits, and the
decorating of altars in the streets, Oaxaca's hotels and shops decorate their
lobbies and the restaurants feature the regional cuisine of Oaxaca They turn
the event into a week-long party.
Day of the Dead  History  Cemetery  Celebration In Oaxaca, Mexico  
On the three day November holiday, family members return to their home
village to join in the preparation of the graveyards and tombs for the return of
the spirits.  In most villages flowers play an important role in decorating the
tombs,
Families also build a home altar with pride and leave offerings for the spirits
that include all the virtues and vices that the departed might have enjoyed in
life.
Oaxaca Hotels      
Oaxaca Day of the Dead Schedule of Cemetery Visits
October, 31
Xoxocotlan. This town a few miles southwest of Oaxaca City  has two Cemeteries, Cementario Viejo, and
the new Cementario Nuevo.
October 31, the village of Atzompa holds a later cemetery vigil starting around 11 pm.

Day of the Dead November 1,
Oaxaca City Cemetery, Panteon General on the east side of the city
Tlaixtac de Cabrera, six miles south east of Oaxaca City

San Felipe del Agua, north of Oaxaca City November 2,
Village of San Antonino Castillo Velasco  A flower growing village that celebrates a week after the
others
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The Day of the
Dead, Oaxaca City,
Mexico November
Celebration is an
exciting time of
festival, music,
parades,
performance,  art,
and regional
cuisine.