Day of the Dead 2025: Events and Totnes Community Altar
Join us in celebrating the Mexican Day of the Dead!
This year, we’re hosting two events in Buckfastleigh and an interactive community altar in our Totnes window.
All events are free and everyone is welcome. Whilst there’s no need to book, it would be really helpful if you could let us know you’re coming, via the Eventbrite links below.
Totnes Day of the Dead Community Altar
On 20th October, we’ll begin building our colourful memorial altar in our shop window on Totnes High Street. As is tradition, it will include photographs and objects that remind us of people who are no longer with us, as a way to celebrate their lives and remember them.
Please contribute your photos to this altar. We welcome photos of people, pets or places or objects that you would like to honour and remember. We’ll then print the photos and include them in the altar display. It couldn’t be easier to send us a photo – see how below. And thank you in advance for contributing!
Send us your photos via this link or via the QR code below:
or, email us your photos to: sarah@heartandsoulfunerals.co.uk
EVENT: Sat 1st Nov 2025: Children’s & Family Friendly Mexican Workshop
Join us for a colourful celebration of the Mexican Day of the Dead on Sat 1st November at Moor Imagination Centre, Buckfastleigh, from 2pm.
We’ll have plenty of arts & crafts to get stuck into and a children’s movie screening at 3.30pm.
- Help us to create a Day Of The Dead Altar: bring a photo of someone or something you wish to remember.
- Paint and decorate a sugar skull
- Create paper dancing skeletons
- Make coloured marigolds
At 3.30pm we’ll be screening a well loved Disney / Pixar Day Of The Dead children’s movie!
We hope you’re able to join us – please call Sarah at Heart & Souls on 01364 643522 or email sarah@heartandsoulfunerals.co.uk with any questions.
The event is completely free of charge.
Let us know you’re coming: Eventbrite: Day of the Dead 1st November, MIC
Please note: children must be accompanied and supervised at all times.
EVENT: Sun 2nd Nov 2025: Memories, at Riverstone
Join us for a special celebration on Sunday 2nd November. Honour & share your memories about someone in a relaxed and friendly setting, here at Riverstone in Buckfastleigh.
(Riverstone, 18 Dart Mills, Totnes Road, Buckfastleigh TQ11 0NF)
Bring your friends and family, add an object or photo to our celebration altar, light a candle, enjoy tea and cake, music & poems and the chance to share memories and stories.
Everyone welcome – we look forward to seeing you here.
Please call Sarah at Heart & Souls on 01364 643522 or email sarah@heartandsoulfunerals.co.uk with any questions.
The event is completely free of charge.
Let us know you’re coming: Eventbrite: Memories, Sunday 2nd November, at Riverstone
About the Mexican Day of the Dead: Día de los Muertos – Sunday 2nd November
It is a joyous occasion when the memory of ancestors and the continuity of life is celebrated. It is believed that at this time the souls of the departed return to visit the living. It is not a time of mourning since “the path back to the living world must not be made slippery by tears”. Its roots are in ancient Mexico before the Spanish conquest. The exact date is unknown but it has been speculated that the idea originated with the Olmecs, possibly as long as 3000 years ago.
The Aztec celebration was held during the Aztec month of Miccailhuitontli. Following the Spanish conquest of Mexico during the 16th century, there was a strong effort to convert the native population to Catholicism. All Saints’ Day and All Hallows Eve (Halloween) roughly coincided with the preexisting Día de Los Muertos resulting in the present day event which draws from both. Although the skeleton is a strong symbol for both Halloween and los Días de Los Muertos, the meaning is very different. For Días de Los Muertos the skeleton represents the dead playfully mimicking the living and is not a macabre symbol at all.
Preparation begins weeks in advance. A sweet bread, pan de muerto, with decorations representing bones of the deceased is very popular as are sugar skulls. All sorts of art objects and toys which symbolically represent death in some way are created. Altars ofrecetas are set up in the home with offerings of sweets and the favorite foods and beverages of the deceased. These offerings may later be given away or consumed by the living after their essence has been enjoyed by the dead. Marigolds are the traditional decorative flower and copal is the traditional incense .
On November 2, Día de los Muertos, the spirits of the dead return. Entire families visit the graves of their ancestors, bringing favorite foods and alcoholic beverages as offerings to the deceased as well as a picnic lunch for themselves. They spend the day cleaning and decorating the grave sites and visiting with each other and other families. There are sugar skulls and toys for the children, emphasizing early on that death is a positive part of the life cycle. It is a happy occasion for remembering pleasant times with departed family members.
