What can we learn from Day of the Dead?

As October comes to a close, many of us prepare for costumes, candy, and the glow of Halloween night. But in much of Latin America—and increasingly around the world—these same days hold a deeper, more sacred rhythm: Día de los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead.

A Celebration of Connection

Celebrated from October 31 through November 2, the Day of the Dead traces its roots to the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America, especially the Aztecs, who believed that death did not end relationship. For them, love extended beyond the boundaries of life itself.

During this time each year, families would honor the dead not with fear or avoidance, but with celebration—a way of maintaining a reciprocal relationship between the living and the departed. The result is one of the world’s most beautiful and life-affirming traditions.

Homes fill with color and memory:

✨ brightly patterned flags (papel picado)

💀 decorative skulls (calaveras)

🍞 sweet bread (pan de muerto)

🕯️ candles, photos, and favorite foods

Families build altars (ofrendas) adorned with items that represent those they’ve lost. Each element is a way to say: You are still part of us.

Remembering as an Act of Love

The Day of the Dead comes just as the world begins to grow darker and colder—an apt time to remember that death and life are intertwined. In many ways, it mirrors what autumn itself reminds us: that endings are not always final, and that even in loss, beauty lingers.

Rather than denying death, Día de los Muertos teaches us to hold it gently—to acknowledge grief without letting it swallow us. It invites us to celebrate the life that was even as we face the ache of what’s missing.

This posture is deeply human and profoundly spiritual. Love, after all, doesn’t disappear when someone dies. It simply changes form.

As one poet put it: “Grief is love with nowhere to go.”

Día de los Muertos gives that love a place to go—a way to be expressed, remembered, and shared.

Learning From the Tradition

For families of faith, there’s something sacred to learn here. Scripture, too, invites us to remember the “great cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us (Hebrews 12:1). To honor their memory isn’t morbid—it’s part of belonging to a story bigger than ourselves.

As we near the close of another year, this celebration can remind us that gratitude and grief often live side by side—that remembering those we’ve lost can be a healing act of hope.

A Family Invitation

If you’re looking for a way to explore this tradition together, consider watching the Disney/Pixar film Coco, a moving and accurate portrayal of Día de los Muertos. Pay attention to how memory, music, and love knit the living and the dead together in one ongoing story.

Afterward, talk as a family about someone you miss—perhaps a grandparent, friend, or loved one who shaped your life.

What did they teach you? What reminds you of them? How might you keep their memory alive in small, joyful ways?

Because at its heart, the Day of the Dead isn’t really about death at all.

It’s about love that refuses to end.