Beyond the Catrina: How to Celebrate Día de Muertos Respectfully in San Miguel de Allende
Local cultural expert Julieta Aguilar Herrera of Mexican Terroir shares the history behind the celebration—and how visitors can participate with curiosity, joy, and respect.
Every fall, San Miguel de Allende is transformed by marigolds, candlelight, papel picado, public altars, and elaborately painted Catrinas. Día de Muertos is one of the most beautiful times to experience the city, but beneath its increasingly visible festivities lies something much more intimate: a tradition centered on family, memory, and the enduring connection between the living and the dead.
For visitors, the celebration can raise important questions. Is it appropriate to paint your face? Can you create an altar if you are not Mexican? Should you visit a cemetery? And how do you experience San Miguel’s public festivities without losing sight of the tradition’s deeper meaning?
To help us answer these questions, we turned to our local cultural expert, Julieta Aguilar Herrera, founder of Mexican Terroir. Through her cultural and culinary experiences, Julieta helps visitors understand Mexico through its food, history, people, and regional traditions.
Her central message is simple: visitors are welcome to participate, but true appreciation begins with understanding.
A Celebration Rooted in an Ancient Relationship With Death
Día de Muertos has roots in Mexico’s pre-Hispanic cultures, many of which did not view death as an absolute ending. Instead, it was understood as another stage in a longer spiritual journey.
One of the best-known examples comes from Mexica cosmology and the journey to Mictlán, the realm of the dead. The deceased had to travel through nine levels and face a series of challenges. A dog, often associated with the Xoloitzcuintle, was believed to help guide the soul through part of this journey.
Other Indigenous communities developed their own traditions. Among Maya communities, Hanal Pixán—often translated as “food for the souls”—is a period of remembrance during which families prepare food and offerings for those who have died.
These beliefs and rituals varied widely across Mexico. During colonization, many Indigenous practices were suppressed, stigmatized, or blended with the Catholic observances of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. The Día de Muertos we recognize today reflects centuries of adaptation: Indigenous understandings of death intertwined with Catholic traditions and the deeply personal customs of individual families and regions.
In many places, cemetery gatherings have remained especially important. Families clean and decorate graves, prepare traditional dishes, bring music and sometimes alcohol, and spend time with the people they have lost.
“It is basically a family meal with the dead,” Julieta explains.
This is what visitors should remember when they encounter a candlelit cemetery, a flower-covered grave, or a family gathered around food. What may appear visually extraordinary is also personal. It is not a performance staged for an audience.
If You Want to Make an Altar, Begin With Four Elements
You do not need an enormous installation or a professionally designed display to create a meaningful altar. Julieta recommends beginning with a simple formula based on the four natural elements.
Water is represented by a glass or vessel of water. It refreshes the visiting soul after its journey.
Earth can be represented through food, fruit, salt, seeds, or cempasúchil flowers.
Wind is represented by papel picado, which moves with the air and reminds us of the fragility of life.
Fire appears through candles or veladoras, whose light helps guide the souls toward the altar.
From there, the altar becomes personal. Add a photograph of the person you are remembering and choose offerings connected to who they were—not simply objects that look traditionally Mexican.
Julieta creates altars for her grandparents and includes the things they genuinely enjoyed. For a grandmother who smoked, she may add a cigar. If another loved beer or mezcal, she leaves his favorite drink. A grandfather who adored sweets might receive desserts or crystallized fruit, especially the crystallized pineapple he loved. Some years, she prepares one of her grandmother’s recipes.
The offerings do not need to be solemn. They should evoke the person’s habits, pleasures, personality, and life.
Some families believe a person should not be placed on the altar during the first year after their death because the soul is still completing its transition and attending to unfinished matters in the earthly world. Other families follow different practices. As with nearly every aspect of Día de Muertos, there is no single custom observed by everyone in Mexico.
Altars may also honor pets, celebrities, artists, or other public figures. The most important thing is that the altar is created with intention. It is not seasonal décor; it is an act of remembrance.
Can Visitors Paint Their Faces as Catrinas?
Yes—with context and respect.
Julieta does not personally find Catrina makeup offensive, and public Catrina events are among the most accessible ways for visitors to join San Miguel’s celebration. But before painting your face, it is worth understanding the story behind the image.
La Catrina did not begin as a Día de Muertos costume. Her origins can be traced to José Guadalupe Posada, the celebrated printmaker and illustrator from Aguascalientes whose satirical images used skeletons to comment on Mexican society, politics, and class.
The figure now known as La Catrina was originally called La Calavera Garbancera. She mocked Mexicans who rejected their Indigenous heritage and tried to present themselves as members of the European aristocracy. Her elaborate appearance carried a sharp message: wealth, clothing, makeup, and social position are temporary. Eventually, regardless of status, we are all bones.
The image later became widely known as La Catrina after Diego Rivera depicted her in an elegant dress and feathered hat in his mural Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central.
La Catrina is therefore more than a beautiful painted face. She is witty, political, irreverent, and distinctly Mexican—a reminder that death comes for everyone.
If you choose to dress as a Catrina, participate in a public parade, organized dinner, or community event where costumes and face painting are welcomed. Learn what the image represents, support a local makeup artist if possible, and resist treating it as a generic Halloween costume.
Think Twice Before Visiting a Cemetery
One of Julieta’s strongest recommendations concerns cemetery visits.
In some communities, families welcome visitors. In others, Día de Muertos at the cemetery is considered a private family observance. Even within the same cemetery, one family may be comfortable with onlookers while another may not be.
If access is restricted, do not attempt to enter. If a family turns away, appears uncomfortable, or does not welcome conversation, give them space. Never photograph people, graves, or ceremonies without permission.
Even as a Mexican, Julieta is cautious about entering traditions that are not rooted in her own family. For her, that is not distance—it is respect.
Fortunately, visitors do not need to enter a private cemetery gathering to learn about Día de Muertos. San Miguel offers many public altars and cultural events created specifically for the wider community.
Experience Both Sides of San Miguel’s Celebration
San Miguel’s international community has helped make Día de Muertos highly visible, with Catrina parades, dinners, parties, costume events, and elaborate public displays. These celebrations can be joyful and spectacular, and visitors should absolutely enjoy them.
But Julieta encourages travelers not to experience only the events created primarily for tourists and foreigners.
Attend the Catrina parade—but also visit the public altars created by local schools, families, artists, businesses, and cultural institutions. Enjoy a themed dinner—but also learn why particular foods appear on an altar. Have your face painted—but take time to understand the history of La Catrina.
Public altars are often installed in and around the Jardín. Cultural spaces such as Centro Cultural El Nigromante "Bellas Artes" and the Casa de Allende have also traditionally created altars, while places including Casa del Mayorazgo de la Canal and Hacienda El Santuario may offer displays or related activities.
Julieta recommends checking official municipal and cultural pages beginning about a week before the celebration. Local guides, hotels, businesses, and community publications also share updated information.
The best experience will include both sides of San Miguel: the large, highly visible celebrations that welcome international participation and the quieter local expressions that reveal what the holiday truly means.
Come to Celebrate—and Stay to Understand
Visitors do not need to stand at a distance from Día de Muertos. You can paint your face, attend the parade, admire the altars, make an ofrenda, eat pan de muerto, and participate in the city’s celebrations.
The key is to do so with curiosity rather than entitlement.
Ask before taking photographs. Respect restricted or private spaces. Learn the meaning behind the symbols you wear. Build an altar around genuine remembrance rather than aesthetics. Seek out local cultural programming alongside events designed for visitors.
Most importantly, remember that Día de Muertos is not about pretending death does not hurt. It is about refusing to let death erase the people we love.
Behind every candle, photograph, flower, glass of mezcal, and favorite family recipe is a story. To celebrate respectfully is to recognize those stories—and to understand that the beauty of Día de Muertos comes not only from how it looks, but from whom it remembers.
Experience Día de Muertos With Mexican Terroir
During the Día de Muertos season, Julieta and Mexican Terroir are offering special cultural tours and tastings designed to help visitors experience the traditions, history, and flavors of the celebration more deeply.
Click here to learn more and reserve your experience.
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