Day of the Dead Oaxaca, Todos los Santos  
Day of the Dead Altar
in Oaxaca
The Day of the Dead
Festival is a three day
November holiday
when families
prepare the tombs for
the return of the
spirits.  During this
time flowers play an
important role in
decorating the tombs
and home altars.
Families leave
offerings for the
spirits in the home
and at the cemetery.
Cemetery Visits
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.
Day of the dead or Todos los Santos means All Souls Day in the
Christian tradition. In Oaxaca, Flowers and candles make the
cemeteries mysterious places during the November vigil for the spirits.
Strangers are welcome in the cemetery.
In the family-oriented villages all members will spend the day decorating the tomb. At the plaza in the
village of XoXo a huge altar decorated with candles and flowers, fruit and candy was a community effort.
In the cemetery of XoXo Cotlon, families prepare the tombs by cleaning and
decorating them with candles and flowers. They sit by the tombs in a night
vigil of waiting for the spirits of loved ones to return
In the town of Tlalixtac south of Oaxaca City the families sit by
the decorated tombs while brass bands move through the cemetery
In the Etla Valley north of Oaxaca City, villagers
stage a play in which they visit houses and on
this one night, possessed by the spirits,  they
can insult even the highest officials.
Competition for the best offering (ofrenda)
or sand painting attracts visitors to
Oaxaca's village of XoXo.
Competition for the best altar
at Oaxaca's ,main cemetery.
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Day of the Dead in Oaxaca
Todos los Santos it is
called or  All Souls Day.
The event  is something special.
The indigenous have celebrated for
centuries by going to the cemetery in
the dark of night and decorating the
graves with thousands of candles.
In the pedestrian-only streets, sand painters do their work while Oaxaca's hotels,
restaurants and shops  decorate their entryways in a friendly competition  and
restaurants feature the Regional cuisine of Oaxaca.
Where is Oaxaca and how do you get there:
Oaxaca Hotels      
They then sit by the
gravestones in a night
vigil. The men gather
and chant as the scent
of copal incense and
the perfume of
marigold flowers fills
the air.

It starts in the
afternoon of the last
day in October when
the families go to the
cemetery to clean and
prepare the tombs.
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Oaxaca Day of the Dead Schedule of Cemetery Visits
October, 31
Xoxocotlan. This town a few miles southwest of Oaxaca City  has two Cemeteries, Cemetario Viejo, and
the new cemetery Nuevo.
October 31, the village of Atzompa holds a later cemetery vigil starting around 11 pm.

Day of the Dead November 1
San Felipe del Agua, north of Oaxaca City,
Oaxaca City Cemetery, Panteon General on the east side of the city
Tlaixtac de Cabrera, six miles south east of Oaxaca City
Vllage of San Antonino Castillo Velasco  A flower growing village that celebrates a week after the others