Short answer: long before marigolds and pan de muerto, the Nahua world already had a destination for almost all of its dead: Mictlan, nine levels and a four year walk underground until you stop existing. And the most interesting part is what was not there, any moral judgement at all. For the wider context there is the Aztec mythology guide, and if you want to compare underworld rulers, here are Hades, Anubis and Hel side by side.
The nine levels of Mictlan
Mictlan is ruled by Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl, lord and lady of the dead. The journey took four years, and the dead person did not make it alone: they were buried with water, with objects, and with a dog. The sources (the Codex Vaticanus A, the Florentine Codex) do not fully agree on the order, but the route is recognisable.
| Level | What the dead face |
|---|---|
| 1. Itzcuintlan | The place of dogs, where the dead meet the one who will escort them |
| 2. Tepectli Monamictlan | Two mountains that clash together, to be passed at the exact moment |
| 3. Iztepetl | The hill of flint and obsidian, which flays whoever climbs it |
| 4. Itzehecayan | A plain of freezing wind carrying blades of obsidian that cut |
| 5. Pancuetlacalloyan | Where the body is tossed weightless, like a flag in the wind |
| 6. Timiminaloayan | A passage where unseen arrows are fired without pause |
| 7. Teocoyolcualloa | The beast that opens the chest and eats hearts |
| 8. Izmictlan Apanohuaya | The wide black water, crossed only on the back of the dog |
| 9. Chicunamictlan | The end of the road: the soul arrives and ceases to be |
That is why the dog matters so much. The xoloitzcuintle, Mexico's hairless dog, was buried with its owner to wait on the bank. A white one, the story goes, refused to cross because it had just been washed, and a black one refused so as not to get dirty. The reddish one was the one who would.
Where you went did not depend on how you behaved
This is the point most articles skip. In the Nahua world, a soul's destination was decided by the manner of death, not by conduct. Reaching Mictlan was not a punishment: it was simply what happened to most people, those who died of old age, of illness, of accident. Anyone drowned or struck by lightning belonged to Tlaloc and went to Tlalocan, green and wet. Warriors killed in battle and women who died in childbirth (a death treated as falling in combat) went with the sun.
Compare that with Egypt, where the heart was weighed against a feather and Anubis watched the scales, or with the Christian heaven and hell. There, dying is an exam. Here it is a question of cause, not merit. And that changes the relationship with the dead entirely: you do not judge them, you accompany them.
The Day of the Dead we celebrate today
The modern festival has three layers, and they are worth separating.
Pre-Hispanic: Nahua feasts for the dead, offerings of food and drink, burials with grave goods, the idea that the dead must be fed and received.
Catholic: the dates. The 1st and 2nd of November are All Saints and All Souls, brought over in the sixteenth century. That is also where the custom comes from that children arrive on the 1st and adults on the 2nd.
Modern: Día de Muertos as a national symbol is largely a twentieth century construction, driven by the post-revolutionary state, the muralists and later by tourism. A recent emblem is not a false one: this is a living tradition, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, practised today by millions of people.
The ofrenda
| Element | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Cempasúchil marigolds | Their colour and scent mark the way back home |
| Water | For the thirst of a long journey |
| Salt | Purifies and preserves the body of the visiting soul |
| Pan de muerto | Shared food; the strips of dough on top are bones, literally |
| Copal | Smoke that cleans the space and signals the house is ready |
| Papel picado | Air made visible: if it moves, they have arrived |
| Photographs | They name who is expected; no photo, no invitation |
| Their favourite food | Proof they are remembered as a person, not as a death |
La Catrina is barely a century old
Around 1910 the printmaker José Guadalupe Posada published "La Calavera Garbancera": a skull wearing a European feathered hat and nothing else. Garbancera was a contemptuous nickname for someone who denied their indigenous roots and dressed as a European. Class satire, not folklore. It was Diego Rivera who named her Catrina, gave her a full body and a long dress, and put her at the centre of his 1947 mural "Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central". The icon millions of people paint on their faces started out mocking Mexicans who were ashamed of being Mexican.
Two more corrections: it is not a sad date, though it is not a festival without grief either, it is a reunion with food on the table; and "Coco" is an affectionate, well-researched film, but it is fiction, not a documentary.
Quick questions
Is Día de Muertos the Mexican Halloween?
No. Halloween comes from Celtic Samhain filtered through the Church and American commerce, and its logic is protection from the dead. Día de Muertos combines Mesoamerican funerary practice with the Catholic calendar, and its logic is the opposite: the dead are expected, the table is laid for them and their names are said out loud. They share a month and little else.
How long did it take the dead to reach Mictlan?
Four years. During that time the family held ceremonies to accompany the journey, and at the end the soul reached the ninth level and dissolved there. Neither reward nor sentence: the end of the road.
Where does la Catrina come from?
From an etching by José Guadalupe Posada made around 1910 to 1913, "La Calavera Garbancera", which mocked people who denied their indigenous ancestry. Diego Rivera dressed her, named her Catrina and turned her into a national icon in his 1947 mural.
At MythologyNow we tell myths like films. We have not gone down to Mictlan yet, but you can start with the gods we already narrate, pick a myth to listen to or first read what a mythology actually is.
