Experiencing Day of the Dead in Michoacan

In Michoacan, visitors from all over the world can live and enjoy Mexico’s traditional celebration on November 1, commemorating their beloved ones, remembering them, and celebrating with them.

Mainly in Patzcuaro, Tzintzuntzan, Janitizio, Jaracuaro, Ihuatzio and Tzurumutaro.

Such a unique celebration fills the homes, cemeteries, and sidewalks with life overflowing with altars, flowers, food, and candles.

Traditionally, on the night of November 1, offerings are placed in the tombs of those who materially no longer exist to venerate what they were and their lifestyles.

For instance, the inhabitants of Janitizio participate in a traditional rite that is a sacred duty, honoring the living and the dead alike. Women and children from the picturesque island arrive at the cemetery and go to the tombs of their ancestors in a silence that contrasts with the light of the candles while they place the deceased’s favorite foods on their petate.

Unlike what happens in Janitizio, the inhabitants of Tzintzuntzan make the best artisan products—black and glazed earthenware, white earthenware, straw angels, fruits, and carved wood—to place them in the offerings. In Jaracuaro, the traditions are purer: an arch of flowers is placed for each neighborhood of the island, and the dance becomes the light of the main square.

The current ceremony of the night of the dead wake derives from the spiritual conquest by the Spanish encomenderos and colonizers in Michoacán. Among the ancient Mexicans, significant rituals around death were performed, which impressed the first conquerors so much that, through evangelization, they introduced new ideas, giving rise to a very marked religious syncretism.

Formerly, Tirepitio was an essential religious center dedicated to the ancestors. There, yellow flowers (cempasuchil) were offered, and on the day consecrated to the dead, the Mexicas climbed to the roof of their house and shouted the name of their ancestors (primal gods) facing north so that they would receive the food that they had placed in the gate. During the Colony, the custom took root little by little in Michoacan, to the point that it is currently the center of attention of nationals and foreigners.