Dia de los Muertos
This post holds somatic and shared ritual invitations around culture, community and grief.
If you’d like to download our PDF guide click here.
Día de los Muertos invites ritual, story, and all the senses. It is a season to slow down, to feel, and to welcome family and memory home.
Dates to Remember
• October 27 honors pets and animal companions.
• October 28 remembers those who died tragically or suddenly.
• October 29 honors the forgotten and the missing.
• October 30 is for those who passed without family.
• October 31 is for preparing, cooking, and gathering.
• November 1 honors children and young souls.
• November 2 honors adults, elders, and ancestors whose love continues to guide us.
Invite the senses
Let scent, sound, taste and touch lead you into remembrance. Light copal and watch how the smoke curls through the air. Play boleros or the songs your loved ones cherished and notice how your body responds. Taste the sweetness of pan de muerto, the salt of tears, the scent of cempasúchil carried by the breeze. This is the body remembering.
Return to connection
Close your eyes and notice where love lives in your body. Maybe it’s warmth in your chest or a flutter behind your ribs. That love is not gone. It was there when your loved one was here, and it remains now, steady and alive within you. Let it expand. Let it remind you that the love is stronger than the physical realm.
Create shared ritual
Gather with others. Cook their favorite meal, share stories, invite the children of the family to listen and help. Let laughter and tenderness mix. You might pass around a photo, light a candle together, or simply speak their name aloud. Each gesture becomes a bridge between generations.
Holding grief
Grief moves like water. It asks to be felt and witnessed, not fixed. If sadness rises, offer it a place. Light a candle, place your hand over your heart, and breathe. You can whisper, te recuerdo, te extrano. Let that remembrance be enough. If you are holding space for someone else’s grief, stay near, breathe with them, and let silence do the work.
May this season remind you that love and loss walk together, that memory can be felt through the senses, and that what connects us never truly fades.
Three Candle Grief Ritual
This ritual is for anyone carrying fresh loss. For those not yet ready to place a photo on the ofrenda and for those who find it hard to take it down. It offers a moment to honor what was, what still is, and what continues in another form. Find a quiet space and three candles. They do not have to match. What matters is your presence.
First Candle: El Cuerpo
Light the first candle and take a deep breath. Notice where the ache lives inside you. Maybe your chest feels heavy, your throat tight, or your stomach hollow. There is no wrong way to feel it. Place your hand where you notice it most and whisper aquí estoy, here I am. This candle is for your cuerpo, for the body that holds both grief and love
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Second Candle: La Memoria
Light the second candle and call your loved one to mind. Picture a small moment that feels true, their laughter, a gesture, the way light touched their face. You can speak their name or simply breathe with their memory. If tears come, let them fall. They are another form of devotion. This candle is for remembrance, for everything you shared and everything that remains unseen but still alive.
Third Candle: La Continuación
Light the third candle for what endures. Feel how love still moves through you. It may not look or sound the same, but it is still here. You do not have to move on, only forward, carrying them within you. Breathe in the light of the three flames and let it remind you that endings are also beginnings.
When you are ready, sit in silence for a moment. You may write a few words, a prayer, or a message. You may place it near your ofrenda or let it drift away in the evening air. When the time feels right, blow out each candle one by one, whispering gracias as you do. The flame is not gone, only changed.
