Día de los Muertos and Samhain: How Mexico and Ireland Honour Their Dead

Día de los Muertos is marked on 1 and 2 November, and it has more in common with Ireland’s own traditions than you might expect. Both Mexico and Ireland have long set aside this time of year to remember loved ones who have died.

Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is a Mexican festival rooted in indigenous Aztec rituals and Catholic customs. According to Ireland.ie, families create altars known as ofrendas, decorated with marigolds, candles, photographs and the favourite foods of the departed. The belief is that the deceased return briefly each year to enjoy the pleasures they knew in life.

The date itself has an Irish-shaped twist. Ireland.ie notes that Mesoamerican cultures originally honoured their dead in August, and that the Spanish later shifted the observance to align with All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on 1 and 2 November, a period that also coincided with the Celtic festival of Samhain.

Samhain, which marked the start of winter, is celebrated from 31 October to 1 November. Pagan tradition holds that the boundary between the living and the dead is at its thinnest at this time. Bonfires were lit and costumes were worn to ward off evil spirits, customs that eventually led to the modern celebration of Halloween in Ireland.

Mexico’s Cork community has shared its traditions locally before. In 2024, a series of free workshops in dance, creative arts, music and cooking was held at St Peter’s Cork on North Main Street in the weekends leading up to the festival, as listed by the Creative Ireland Programme. The listing described the Mexican community in Cork as a group of over 300 individuals.

Whether it is a candlelit ofrenda in Mexico or a Samhain bonfire in Ireland, the message is much the same: the dead are remembered, and for a night or two, they are welcome.