Overview
- October 30 is dedicated to the almas olvidadas, with households setting simple altars that offer light, water, fruit, salt and pan de muerto to souls without family remembrance.
- In Puebla, families covered roadsides and memorials with cempasúchil on October 28 to honor people who died tragically at the places where accidents occurred.
- Mexico City’s Environment Secretariat is promoting direct purchase of cempasúchil from conservation-land growers, listing sales points in Xochimilco markets and high-traffic areas such as the Zócalo and major metro stations.
- Some Mexico City cemeteries are extending visiting hours for the holiday, including Panteón Xoco operating from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., with other sites indicating tentative late closures.
- Marigolds remain essential on the ofrenda for their guiding scent and color, and pan de muerto carries symbolic elements such as a round “earth” shape, bone-like decorations and a central “skull,” as the calendar advances to October 31 for unbaptized children and November 1–2 for broader commemorations.