3 months and 5 days of countdown until Day of the Dead 2023. Get your Catrinas ready!
What is Day of the Dead and when does it take place? People celebrate the Day of the Dead on November 1st. It’s a charming festivity full of color, food, and a deep appreciation for those who have departed. Learn who celebrates Day of the Dead and the many ways of doing so in different countries. In the meantime, have you decorated some sugar sku...
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Death
Generate stunning visuals that fit perfectly into your Day of the Dead themes using an array of professionally curated Death photos that will draw the attention of your undead audiences. Such deep contrast and ghostly elements will create a darkened atmosphere intended for social media posts, website features, and event posters.
Mexican people
Celebrate Mexican culture with the people of Mexico. Here you can find an array of Mexican people photos encouraging a healthy and happy lifestyle to lead your Mexican-themed projects. Such high-resolution images will provide incredible detail, adding value to your work.
Mexican food
In honor of the departed, it is customary to eat all the Mexican food you can, from tacos and burritos to chili and spice and all things nice. This collection of Mexican food images are perfect for elevating the cultural significance of this spiritual celebration, all while satisfying our appetite for quality cuisine.
Sugar skull
Sugar skulls transform Day of the Dead celebrations into enigmatic festivities where death and life converge. Include any of the pictures in this selection of Mexican skulls in your designs, posters, leaflets, and celebrate Day of the Dead in a very special way.
Day of the Dead pattern
Get some Day of the Dead patterns for your collages, video calls, for using as computer or phone wallpapers, or even to create a photocall. These designs include sugar skulls, chrysanthemums, colors, and traditional Mexican elements.
Day of the Dead background
There are plenty of Day of the Dead backgrounds just for you. They are very handy to launch a sales or a marketing campaign, to advertise your products, to promote a party, or even to encourage people to visit your website.
Day of the Dead drawing
This treasure trove of meticulously detailed Day of the Dead drawings are just what's needed to enliven your themed creative projects. Apply them to your high-impact poster designs, social media posts, and websites projects for an undead finish that will last eternity.
Day of the Dead poster
These Day of the Dead posters are great to let your friends and clients know about your party. They are so beautiful that you can even have them printed and make them part of your home decoration! They contain designs of flowers, neon hues, skulls, altars...
Symbols
Catrina
Altar
Skull
Marigold
Catrina makeup is one typical motif of El Día de los Muertos. To understand the Catrina meaning, we must introduce you to José Guadalupe Posada, a cartoon illustrator, who designed the first Calavera Catrina in 1912. He created a zinc etching depicting a skeleton as an upper-class woman, with a pamela hat adorned with flowers and feathers. It was a satirical cartoon published just before Día de los Muertos to make fun of people (whether they were dead or alive!) What does La Catrina symbolize today? After this cartoon, the popularity of La Catrina increased thanks to painter Diego Rivera (Frida Kahlo’s husband) because of his mural Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central. Thanks to it, la Catrina turned into the representation of Death for Mexicans.
Altar de muertos is a very Mexican and Latin way of honoring those that have passed away. These altars (or ofrendas in Spanish) typically have three tiers. Candles to illuminate the path of the dead person, together with soap, a mirror and a washbasin are placed on the bottom tier. The second one offers Mexican food and drinks to make the deceased person comfortable. The top tier displays a photograph of the deceased, images of crucifixes, the Virgin Mary, and the like. The idea behind the altar is to guide the soul of the late relative, to provide him or her with food, and to make the soul comfortable by offering soap and a washbasin too.
Day of the Dead skulls are the symbols of death par excellence, and sugar skulls are the most typical offering on Día de los Muertos. These sugar skull designs are made of a type of sugar paste and they are decorated with vivid colors that represent flowers and other adorns. They are placed on altars or given as a token to friends. These sugar skulls or calaveras have been inherited from ancient Mesoamericans and societies like Toltecs, Mayans, and Aztecs. Today, these Day of the Dead symbols or calaveras are not only made of sugar. Any other sort of skull representation with colors and decorations is considered a calavera, no matter if they are made of clay or if they appear in tattoos.
Flowers are very present in any Día de los Muertos celebration. They add beautiful colors to this day and help create a festive mood. Mexicans prefer marigold flowers to adorn altars and their houses: they think that this sort of flower has the power of guiding the souls of their dead relatives from the other side to the altars. Apart from marigolds, they also like to have bouquets of gladiolas, meaning remembrance, and white chrysanthemums. This last sort of flower has been traditionally linked to death. Of course, they are free to add more (and different!) blossoms to their home decor during Día de los Muertos.
To answer what colors represent Day of the Dead, we start with magenta, one of the first synthetic dyes in history. It was created by two British chemists during the 19th century, and it received its name after the Battle of Magenta, in Italy. Both the name and the dye were a success! You can’t get the eyes off magenta because of its energy and intensity. Dark magenta is as special as its lighter counterpart. It’s a vibrant hue that is very saturated and full of energy. It symbolizes harmony, benevolence, evolution, and change. It’s the color of balance, inspiration, and love. This touch of positivity and peacefulness is the perfect one to celebrate Día de los Muertos and the life and death of your departed loved ones.
Day of the Dead traditions are the roots of this very relevant festivity, and not only for Mexican people. It has influenced films, home decorations, music, paintings, and many more. But what of the origin of Day of the Dead? It’s a Prehispanic celebration with some Christian touches added to it after the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Did you know that during the Prehispanic period, people thought that offerings helped the souls of the dead in their journey to the afterlife? They even had their own guardian dogs (Xoloitzcuintle) to guide the deceased to their final resting place! Immerse yourself in Day of the Dead facts that have led to the most picturesque and marvelous festivities on earth.
Teotihuacan, the origins of Day of the Dead
What is the history behind Day of the Dead? To understand this festivity, one needs to go back to the times of the Teotihuacan civilization in Mexico. Teotihuacan people made offerings for the sake of the souls of the dead. This ritual helped the spirits reach any of the four different types of paradise, depending on the age of the person. The most typical offerings were food, seeds, jade, knives, copal. For example, when the deceased person was a teenager, the community offered vegetables and animal bones. Clay pots, sugar canes, and food were preferred for adults.
Tlaloc, Omeyocan, Mictlan, and Chichihuacuauhco
Offers were a vital part of Aztec burials, as happens with Día de los Muertos today. This included items that had been used by the deceased, together with many things that would be helpful for them in the great beyond. They were also buried with a Xoloitzcuintle, a dog breed, as these animals were thought to guide the soul of the person after his or her death. In fact, after dying, souls had to wander for four years until they reached one of the four heavens. Tlaloc was the paradise of those who died in the sea, because of diseases related to water (gout, dropsy), or to sacrificed kids. Omeyocan was the final destination for warriors, women who died during labor, and sacrificed slaves. Mictlan was the resting place for those who underwent natural deaths, while Chichihuacuauhco was the place for babies and small children.
The Spanish colonization of the Americas and other Prehispanic traditions
The Spanish colonization of the Americas had many effects on the Americans. In this respect, some native and Spanish traditions fused: the Spanish had a celebration to honor those that have passed away, known as All Saints’ Day, celebrated on November 1st. So, do Spaniards celebrate Day of the Dead? Well, they don’t specifically celebrate it, although All Saints’ Day has a lot in common with Day of the Dead! The native death cult inherited a lot from All Saint’s Day, so a very primitive version of Day of the Dead started taking place on November 1st. This celebration had Prehispanic elements, like offering food and drinks to the souls, but it also drew different details from Christianism. Spiritually speaking, this cult was shaped following the idea of God, resurrection, and remembering the dead with flowers.
Day of the Dead and UNESCO
November 7th, 2003 is a turning point in the history of Day of the Dead. The richness and historical development of this tradition has led to UNESCO declaring it intangible cultural heritage. It’s simply amazing! Day of the Dead helps create a feeling of identity for different cultures, as in the case of Mexicans. It is a very magical and cherished tradition, as it combines Prehispanic rites with Catholic conventions. Moreover, these religious beliefs and traditions merge with agriculture, as it happens when it’s time to cultivate maize, their most important type of crop. Death and life coexist, creating a unique sort of tradition worth to be acknowledged.
Día de los Muertos is a major celebration for Latin America, but with celebrations gone global, what countries celebrate Day of the Dead around the world? This tradition is deeply rooted in ancient civilizations such as the Aztec, and many other countries pay homage to their dead relatives by making altars. Let’s learn and understand how do people celebrate the Day of the Dead in countries like Bolivia, Guatemala, Argentina, and the United States.
Ajayus, tantawawas, prayers, and cemeteries: celebrating Day of the Dead in Bolivia. Day of the Dead is a very special festivity for people in Bolivia. They go to cemeteries during two days, on November 1st and 2nd. This celebration starts at midnight (November 1st) and ends the following day at noon. It’s so because ajayus, the souls of the dead relatives, come back from the mountains on the other side to live with their families and friends for 24 hours. They clean the tombs and they place different types of foods, fruits, drinks, candles, or photographs of their deceased relatives there, among other things. You’ll also find tantawawas, human-shaped cakes with colorful faces, in the altars. They are said to represent the dead person. Apart from that, they also include bread ladders representing the ascension of the souls to heaven. As you can see, this is a merry celebration; Bolivians don’t really see death as an end. They consider death to be the end of a cycle. Isn’t it a wonderful point of view?
Guatemala Day of the Dead traditions start from the grave with people decorating tombs, painting them with colors, and adorning them with different sorts of flowers in Guatemala. As they like to spend Día de los Muertos and the following one at the cemetery, they carry cold cuts with them to eat there, as they don’t need to warm up this type of food. Did you know that his tradition began with the ancient Mayans? Another typical thing to do is flying barriletes. They are colorful kites, and they are quite big as well. These huge kites are a tool that makes communication between live and dead people possible–given that you fly it over the tombs, of course! Have you ever heard about the carrera de las ánimas? Some (drunk!) jockeys ride horses in this race that takes place in Cuchumatán, Huehuetenango. As you can see, there are plenty of interesting things to do in Guatemala if you want to celebrate Día de los Muertos.
Día de las almas, the Argentinean version of Day of the Dead. People celebrate Day of the Dead in Argentina as well, mostly in the northwest of the country. Compared to other areas, the Argentinian celebration presents some differences. In places like Salta and Jujuy, this day is called Día de las Almas. They celebrate Día de las Almas with altars made out of stones, as nature (and Pachamama, Mother Earth) are very important for Angentineans. They offer food and drinks to the souls of their dead relatives. This way, the spirits will be comforted and it will be easier for them to reach heaven. In addition, altars are also adorned with items that belonged to these dead loved ones. It helps them find the way to their earthly homes. Additionally, you will also see many ladders there, as they are thought to lead souls to heaven too.
Day of the Dead in the US: tradition, art, and modernity. Day of the Dead is an important celebration in the US. Many Latin immigrants live there and they are still attached to their own roots. Depending on the city and state, you’ll find several activities. For example, the largest Day of the Dead in Southern California is to be seen in Santa Ana. On this Noche de Altares, people make altars to honor the deceased loved ones and the ancient traditions. You’ll also enjoy their tasty food, concerts, art exhibitions and children’s activities. In Los Angeles, the Self Help Graphics & Art Mexican-American cultural center organizes a Day of the Dead celebration that combines political elements with traditions. In San Francisco, you’ll also see street altars at Garfield Square. In Tucson, Arizona, there has been a beautiful All Souls Procession since 1990. If you prefer candlelight processions, El Campo SAnto Cemetery in Old Town San Diego, California, organizes one on this day. The Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston also prepares activities and people create elaborate altars for the departed ones. As you can see, many American communities and organizations are involved.
