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Period: 2500 BCE to 1521
Prehispanic time
The Mexica culture worshiped gods who were in charge of defining the destiny of the souls. They gods were Mictecacíhuatl and Mictlantecuhtli. -
Period: 2500 BCE to 1521
Prehispanic time
Our ancestors believed that the man who went to the underworld continued to live, there he didn´t live the life but they live the death. -
Period: 2500 BCE to 1521
Prehispanic time
A Tzompantli was created, it was an altar for death that illustrated the traditional passage from the earthly to the spiritual. Which had the characteristic of being formed by rows of skulls of people sacrificed in honor of the gods. -
Period: 2500 BCE to 1521
Prehispanic time
Pre-Hispanic people were used to burying the dead with Xoloitzcuintle dogs as guides. -
Period: 609 to
All Saints Day (Spain)
On November 1 and 2 it was customary to celebrate All Saints' Day and the feast of the faithful departed, they blessed food and left it for the saints to eat. -
Period: 1521 to
Spain
The tradition of the Day of the Dead came to Mexico in the 16th century, with the Spanish conquistadors, who practiced a ritual of medieval Christian Europe that consisted of setting a table with flowers and food to feed those who had already left. -
Period: 1521 to
XVI
The Spanish arrived in Mexico generating a mixture of cultures so they began to adapt some European techniques, such as the famous alfeñique. This tried to replace the skulls of sacrificed people to transform it into something more innocent like a sugar-based figure, becoming in a tradition -
Period: 1521 to
Flower of cempasuchil
With the passage of time, already in the colonial years, they were adding elements of the region, for example the flower of cempasúchil, which had nothing to do with the dead, but was a flower dedicated to the god of war, Huitzilopochtli. -
Period: to
XVIII
In this century the custom of the day of the dead has already been established. On November 1, 1821, Mexico City celebrates the Day of the Dead as we know it. -
Period: to
The graveyard
In 1833 the dead were buried in pantheons due to cholera, it was then when they decorate the pantheons -
Period: to
XIX and XX ( "Calaverita literaria")
The "Calaveritas literarias" began to be written during the 19th century and became very popular in the 20th. They are made in order to talk about death with a good sense of humor. Usually, we dedicate them to people who are close to us. -
Period: to
"Garbancera skull"
José Guadalupe Posada made conical strips with the image of the garbancera skull, he was the first to represent death in a comical way. -
Period: to
Diego Rivera and the Catrina
In 1940 to 1954 Diego Rivera changed the image of the skull garbancera to the catrina we know today. -
Period: to
UNESCO
The celebration of the Day of the Dead was recognized by UNESCO as intangible heritage of humanity -
Period: to
Pop Culture
The most watched movies that talk about this wonderful party are ¨Coco¨ and ¨The book of life¨. This party is very present in pop culture -
Period: to
The present
The Day of the Dead celebration is very famous all over the world.
The party has become very famous thanks to all the social media, it is already part of the pop culture. -
Period: to
Day of the Dead in the present
In Mexico, we made mega offerings that are displayed in large cities, The principal is one in Mexico City's Historic Center, as well as a representative parade. -
Period: to
The "Calaverita"
It is also very common for children to go out and ask for their sugar skulls from door to door on November 2nd -
Period: to
Tourism
Among the most important tourist destinations to visit during the Day of the Dead are:
- Pátzcuaro, Michoacán
- Huautla de Jimenez, Oaxaca
- Pomuch, Campeche
- Xochimilco, Mexico City
- Huasteca Potosina, San Luis Potosi