Halloween vs. Day of the Dead: What's the Difference?

Halloween vs. Day of the Dead comes down to purpose. Halloween, on October 31, plays with fear through costumes, candy and spooky fun. Día de Muertos, on November 1 and 2, is a Mexican tradition of remembering loved ones who have passed away, with home altars, marigolds and family gatherings. Below: a side-by-side table, where each holiday comes from, what the traditions mean and how to take part respectfully.

The short version

• They're two separate holidays, back to back. Halloween is October 31. Día de Muertos is November 1 and 2, with preparations in the last days of October.
• They have different purposes. Halloween plays with fear for fun. Día de Muertos welcomes back the memory of family members who have passed away.
• They have different roots. Halloween is traced to the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian All Hallows' Eve. Día de Muertos joins Indigenous ways of honoring ancestors with the Catholic feasts of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.
• It isn't "Mexican Halloween." Its skulls and skeletons are affectionate, not frightening.
• Many families celebrate both: costumes and Halloween games on the 31st, then the ofrenda on November 1 and 2.

Halloween vs. Day of the Dead at a glance

The two holidays touch on the calendar, but almost everything else differs.

Halloween is biggest in the US, Canada, Ireland and the UK. Día de Muertos is celebrated across Mexico and in Mexican communities in the US and beyond.

Where Halloween comes from

Halloween's oldest roots are usually traced to Samhain, a Celtic festival held at the turn of October into November in Ireland and Scotland. It marked the end of the harvest and the start of winter.

The name is a short form of All Hallows' Eve, the evening before All Saints' Day on November 1. "Hallow" is an old word for a saint. Historians still debate how much of today's Halloween comes from Samhain and how much from these Christian customs.

Several familiar customs started in Ireland and Scotland, like carving lanterns from turnips and going door to door in disguise, which the Scots called guising. Irish and Scottish immigrants brought these customs to North America, where pumpkins, bigger and easier to carve, took over from turnips.

Trick-or-treating as we know it took shape in North America in the early 1900s. In the US today, Halloween is mostly a community celebration: costumes, trick-or-treating, decorations and parties. Many schools and churches also host trunk-or-treat events, where kids collect candy from decorated cars in one parking lot.

Where Día de Muertos comes from

Día de Muertos grew from two traditions that met after the Spanish conquest. Long before the Spanish arrived, Indigenous peoples in what is now Mexico, including the Mexica (Aztecs), honored their ancestors with festivals and offerings. Those festivals fell at other times of year; the Mexica held two of them around August and September.

The Catholic feasts of All Saints' Day, November 1, and All Souls' Day, November 2, arrived with the Spanish in the 1500s. Over time, Indigenous ways of honoring ancestors came to be practiced on those days, which is why the holiday falls on November 1 and 2.

Historians still discuss how much of today's celebration is pre-Hispanic and how much came from Europe. UNESCO describes it as a fusion of the two. Much of its modern look, from skeleton prints to funny calavera verses, took shape in the 1800s and early 1900s.

In many communities, November 1 is for children who have passed away, often called angelitos (little angels), and November 2 is for adults. Some families set out the children's ofrenda on October 31, and customs vary a lot from region to region and family to family.

In 2008, UNESCO inscribed the Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead, as practiced in Mexico, on its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Day of the Dead traditions, explained

The ofrenda

The ofrenda is an altar families set up at home, and sometimes at the grave, with photos of the loved ones being remembered. Some are built on several tiers; others fill a single table.

Families add candles, marigolds, water, salt, copal incense, pan de muerto, sugar skulls, papel picado and the person's favorite foods and things. A child's ofrenda often holds sweets and toys.

Each item has a meaning. Water quenches the visitors' thirst after a long journey, salt stands for purification, and candlelight helps guide the way home.

Cempasúchil (marigolds)

Cempasúchil is the bright orange Mexican marigold. Its name comes from the Nahuatl cempohualxóchitl, often translated as "twenty flowers."

Many families believe its color and scent guide souls home, and some lay a trail of petals from the street or the cemetery to the ofrenda.

Calaveras

Calavera means skull. Sugar skulls, decorated with bright icing, often carry a name across the forehead.

The word also names calaveras literarias: short, funny verses written like epitaphs that tease living people, often politicians, as if death had come for them. They began appearing in Mexican newspapers in the 1800s, and people still write and publish them every fall.

La Catrina

La Catrina is the elegant skeleton lady in a wide, fancy hat. She started as an etching from the early 1900s by the Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada, who called her La Calavera Garbancera and used her to mock people who hid their Indigenous roots behind European fashions.

The muralist Diego Rivera gave her a full body and the name La Catrina in his 1947 mural Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park. Today she's one of the holiday's best-known symbols, on posters, figurines and painted faces.

Pan de muerto

Pan de muerto is a soft, sweet, round bread, often scented with orange blossom water or orange zest. Strips of dough on top are shaped like bones, a small ball in the center stands for the skull, and the loaf is dusted with sugar.

Bakeries make it mainly in the weeks around the holiday, and recipes vary by region, from anise to sesame seeds to fillings.

Papel picado and cemetery visits

Papel picado is tissue paper cut into lacy designs, traditionally by stacking sheets and punching them with small chisels. It hangs in bright banners over altars and streets.

Families also visit cemeteries to clean and decorate graves with flowers and candles, share food and music, and in some towns keep watch through the night. The candlelit vigils on Janitzio island, in Lake Pátzcuaro, and in San Andrés Mixquic, in Mexico City, are among the best known.

Is Day of the Dead "Mexican Halloween"?

No. The mix-up is easy to understand: the dates touch, both use skeletons, and both involve face paint and sweets.

But the purpose is different. Halloween plays with fear, while Día de Muertos treats death as part of life and welcomes loved ones who have passed away as family coming home for a visit.

In real life, the two do mix. Halloween has grown popular in Mexico, and in many towns kids in costume go door to door between October 31 and November 2 asking, "¿Me da mi calaverita?" (roughly, "Can I have my little skull?"), meaning a treat or a few coins.

Many Mexican American families do both: trick-or-treating on Halloween night, then the ofrenda the next day.

How to take part respectfully if it isn't your tradition

• Follow the lead of the family or community hosting you. Asking what the items on an ofrenda mean shows you care about the people being remembered.
• Ask before you photograph an ofrenda or a grave, and never move or touch what's on an altar.
• If you build an ofrenda, make it for someone you love, not as a party decoration.
• If you paint your face as a Catrina, do it for a Día de Muertos event you're taking part in, and know what it represents. As a generic Halloween costume, it misses the point.
• Visit a public ofrenda at a museum, library or cultural center. Many communities share the tradition there each fall.
• Skip "Mexican Halloween." Call it Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead.

How to explain the difference to kids

Start with one sentence. Say: "On Halloween, we dress up and pretend to be spooky. On Día de Muertos, families remember people they love who have passed away, and make them a special table with photos and their favorite foods."

For the Halloween side

Play Halloween charades, read a few Halloween would you rather questions, or draw bats, black cats and haunted houses in Draw & Guess with the Halloween deck. For toddlers and preschoolers, our not-scary Halloween activities keep it gentle.

For the Día de Muertos side

Put the phone away and make papel picado: fold tissue paper several times, snip small shapes along the folds, unfold it and tape it to a length of yarn. It takes about 15 minutes, and kids 5 and up can do it with safety scissors.

Paper marigolds, made from orange tissue squares pinched in the middle and fluffed, go right next to it.

For a class lesson

Our Halloween trivia questions include six about Día de Muertos: its two days, calaveras, cempasúchil, pan de muerto, papel picado and La Catrina. Play them in teams alongside the questions on Samhain and turnip lanterns, then fill in a two-column chart like the table above.

Some children have lost someone recently, so keep any sharing optional. If the lesson falls the same week as your party, our classroom Halloween party plan fits in 45 minutes, and our guide to party games from around the world shows how kids play in other countries.

FAQ

Is Día de Muertos scary?

No. Families cook, play music and tell stories, and the skulls and skeletons are cheerful reminders that death is part of life.

Do people celebrate Day of the Dead in the United States?

Yes. Many Mexican American families keep the tradition at home, and many US cities hold public events, with community ofrendas at museums, libraries and cultural centers.

Is it "Día de Muertos" or "Día de los Muertos"?

Both are correct. Día de Muertos is the usual name in Mexico, and Día de los Muertos is common in the US.

When do families set up the ofrenda?

Many set it up in the last days of October so it's ready by November 1, then take it down after November 2. Some put out the children's ofrenda on October 31, and timing varies by family and region.

Can kids take part in Día de Muertos?

Yes. Children help decorate the ofrenda, make papel picado and share pan de muerto, and in many families November 1 is set aside for the children being remembered.

Bring both holidays to the table

To bring both holidays to a class or the family table, print our Halloween trivia cards and keep the Costumes & traditions category. That's where the Día de Muertos questions are, each with its answer printed on the card.