Join us once again in celebrating the Mexican Day of the Dead. Contribute to our colourful Memorial Window on Totnes High Street and come along to our Family Friendly Mexican Workshop and Film Screening at Moor Imagination Centre.
Memorial Window, Totnes High Street: please share your photos
On Monday 19th October, we’ll begin building our colourful Memorial Window in our shop 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.
This is a memorial space for our community. We welcome and encourage you to share images of people, pets and place you'd like to be included in the window.
Your photos will then be printed and shared in the window.
Share your photos here:
Event: Sunday 1st Nov 2026: Children’s & Family Friendly Mexican Workshop - free!
Join us for a colourful celebration of the Mexican Day of the Dead on Sunday 1st November at Moor Imagination Centre, Buckfastleigh, from 11am.
We’ll have plenty of arts & crafts to get stuck into and a children’s movie screening at 1pm.
- 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 1pm we’ll be screening a well loved Disney / Pixar Day Of The Dead children’s movie, (as well as some Coco / Cocoa!!)
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 via the link here
Please note: children must be accompanied and supervised at all times.
About the Mexican Day of the Dead: Día de los Muertos – Monday 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 3,000 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.
