The Day of the Dead
On 1 and 2 November, Mexican families build altars, decorate graves and welcome back the people they have lost; in 2026 Mexico City marks it with its tenth Grand Parade and a 32-metre Catrina in the Zócalo. This film follows the festival back through the evidence: the Mexica belief that most souls made a four-year journey through the nine levels of Mictlan, and their two twenty-day months for the dead; the Spanish conquest and the Catholic feasts of All Saints and All Souls; how the two calendars met in New Spain, and why scholars still disagree about how much of the festival is pre-Hispanic. Then the ofrenda, element by element, the nights for children and adults, regional customs from Lake Pátzcuaro to Mixquic and Oaxaca, the satirical calaveras, José Guadalupe Posada's skull in a European hat and how Diego Rivera made her the Catrina, UNESCO recognition, a parade that began after a film, and how it all differs from Halloween.
The Day of the Dead
An Aztec festival, a Catholic feast, or both?
The land of the dead
In Mexica belief, how you died decided where you went.
Two calendars meet
The Spanish brought their own days for the dead.
Whose tradition?
Scholars still argue about how much is pre-Hispanic.
The ofrenda
A table set for particular people.
Nights and places
The same nights, kept in many local ways.
Laughing at death
Mocking verses, cheap prints and a skull in a hat.
Heritage and parade
An old festival keeps changing.
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