Families will decorate the tombs with tapetes of flowers, making a painting usually with a religious theme
created entirely of whole marigold flowers, marigold petals, and flower buds.

Families will work for most of the afternoon of October  31  preparing the graves .
In the evening they will have a traditional meal with bread and chocolate  as the lady of the house  mixes
chocolate, almond, and canela  (cinnamon) with a wooden mixer.

After dinner they will go to the cemetery for the night vigil.
Marigold of the domestic
variety
replaces the wild
version in the more prosperous
cities and villages, These will
come to the markets by the ton.
Families use many other flowers
to decorate the tombs and
graves but the
marigold has
special significance
and
usually is prominently displayed.  
On the
last night of October
and the first night of November,
the cemetery vigils take place.
in Oaxaca.  The all-night vigil at
the graves and tombs is a
candle-lit spectacle not to be
missed.
Marigold, Day Of The Dead Flowers,  Oaxaca, Mexico
Marigold is the important flower used in celebrating the Day of the Dead in Oaxaca and throughout Mexico.

In the remote villages, the people use a wild version of the Marigold.  It flowers in October and is plentiful in
the fields.  
In Oaxaca the indigenous people call the flower Cempasuchitl in the Nahuatl language (Aztec)
The Spanish name for the flower, flor de muerto, means flower of death.
Marigold,  The Day of the Dead Flower:
The people of remote villages having meager means to buy the cultivated Marigold,
will harvest the wild plant and use it to construct their offerings.  (Ofrenda, an altar of
sorts with gifts for the dead)  They will  remove the petals from the flower and spread
them on the ground to make a path to the house and to the grave.  The pungent
aroma of the marigold and the bright color of the yellow petals will guide the spirit to
the home altar (ofrenda) and to the cemetery.  
The family will prepare a table on the home and decorate it with Marigold, jicama,
sugar cane, and many other fruits and nuts.  They will bake or buy special bread for
the celebration.  In the evening they will have a traditional meal of chocolate and
bread and then they will go to the graveyards where  they have cleaned and
decorated the cemetery plot.  They will then sit during the night and wait for the return
of the spirits. They hope that the path of pungent marigold petals will guide the
returning spirit.
The marigold is the most important flower In this three-day annual festival of
honoring the spirits at graveside.   Families will gather at the home or cemetery
during the afternoon of October 31 to begin preparing the decorations.  Often they
will remove the Marigold flower from its stem and use the whole flower to create a
tapestry.  Other times they will break the flower apart and create a painting with it
or create a path to the ofrenda as seen below.
Oaxaca Hotels      
In the city and more affluent towns, tons of domesticated and cultivated marigold flowers decorate the
graveyards.  The people go to the cemetery at night and  hold a cemetery vigil by candlelight at the tombs
and grave sites which they have decorated with marigold flowers.
Each village celebrates in a different way, some at a different time but they all are spectacular. More so
perhaps when you visit a village and see that all the paintings that decorate the tombs are done entirely
with the petals of the Marigold flower.
Marigold:
Cempoalxochitl is the Nauhatl (Aztec) name for the wild Mexican Marigold.    The plant is called Tagetes
Erecta
in horticultural lists.  The tradition states that the Aztecs used the plant medicinally and cultivated it
for other uses.  In Oaxaca the plant grows wild in the fields as a weed.  The local name is Cempasuchitl.   
(wikpedia Excerpt)
Candle for Susan
Marigold the important  Day Of The Dead Flower is used to decorate in Oaxaca,
Mexico during the October/November festival
Marigold the Day Of The Dead Flowers decorate the tombs in  Oaxaca, Mexico
Marigold, Day Of The Dead
Flowers,  Oaxaca, Mexico
Marigold dominates as the Day Of
The Dead Flower used to decorate
the tombs.
Marigold, the Day Of The Dead Flower in
Oaxaca, Mexico is used to construct an
offering to the spirits during the Day of the
Dead observance.
Marigolds are part of the offering of gifts for
the spirits and often, petals from the flower
are spread on the ground to guide the spirit
to the house and tombs.
Marigold is the
important Day Of
The Dead Flower
used in Oaxaca,
Mexico to decorate
the tombs.
Chocolate is an
important part of the
Day Of The Dead in
Oaxaca, Mexico
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