Oaxaca Day of the Dead, History   
The Day of the Dead Festival
in Oaxaca is a three-day
November holiday when
families clean the graves and
prepare the tombs for the
return of the spirits.  During
this time flowers decorate the
tombs and home altars.
Families leave offerings for
the spirits in the home and at
the cemetery, they leave paths
of flower petals to guide the
spirits..
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 and the marigolds and
cockscomb flowers that  decorate the tombs. Each village celebrates at different
times and with different intensity but the evenings are sure to be unique as families
come to the graveyards to sit by the tombs and wait for the spirits to return.
The markets are full
of flowers that the
families will use to
decorate their
home altars and
tombs Marigold
and cockscomb are
the flowers with
special meaning.
The marigold is
called the Fleur de
Meurto, the flour of
death. In the
evening the family
sits by the tomb
and waits for the
return of the spirits.
In the new cemetery of XoXo Cotlon, artist Juan Cruz Pascual decorates  with a sand painting replete
with Christian motifs
In the town of Tlalixtac south of Oaxaca City the families sit by                  
the decorated tombs while brass bands move through the cemetery
Part of the excitement of the
season in Oaxaca comes when
the shops in the cosmopolitan city
decorate with candles and flower
petals in an unspoken
competition of artistic display
Chocolate is a new
world plant and
spreading flowers
before the feet of the
emperor was a
common pre-Hispanic
ritual.
During Oaxaca's Day Of
The Dead the indigenous
people decorate their home
altars with marigold flowers,
chocolate, loaves of special
bread, and candles.
On the last day of October
they decorate their tombs.

They invite visitors to come
to the cemetery as they sit
by the graveside in a night
vigil of waiting for the return
of the spirits.
The Spanish Christianised
the indigenous people after
the conquest and united
Christian All Saints Day with
the pagan ritual formerly
celebrated in August.
Oaxaca Day of the Dead celebration  is a combination of
European and indigenous rites.  The use of Marigold flowers and the
spreading of flower petals in a trail to the grave and the inclusion of
chocolate in the building of an offering are all of  pre-Hispanic origin.

Oaxaca City becomes an exciting place to be during the festival with music, Oaxacan art, museum
exhibitions, and the decorating of altars in the streets, Oaxaca's hotels and shops decorate their entry ways
and the restaurants feature the regional cuisine of Oaxaca as they spend the last week of October preparing
for Oaxaca's Day of the Dead.
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 to clean and decorate
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.
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.
Oaxaca Hotels      
Oaxaca Day of the Dead  History goes back well before the arrival of the
Spanish.  The use of Marigold flowers and the spreading of flower petals in a
trail to the grave and the inclusion of chocolate in the building of offering are all
lead to pre-Hispanic origin
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