Day of the Dead
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Explore the rich traditions and history of Día de Muertos with our comprehensive free 90-question trivia quiz with answers. Whether you're learning about Day of the Dead for the first time or testing your expertise, this quiz covers everything from ancient origins to modern celebrations. Challenge yourself and discover fascinating facts about this important Mexican holiday!
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Q 01Which 1960 Mexican film set on the Day of the Dead was Oscar-nominated?
Macario
Macario follows a starving woodcutter who shares his turkey with Death on the eve of the Day of the Dead and is repaid with healing water; it was the first Mexican film nominated for the foreign-language Oscar.
Q 02What is the main purpose of a Day of the Dead ofrenda?
To welcome the souls of the departed
To welcome the souls of the departed, families build the ofrenda at home or beside the grave; it is an invitation to a brief reunion with the living, not an altar for worship.
Q 03Which bright orange flower decorates Day of the Dead altars, believed to guide spirits with its scent?
Marigolds
Marigolds' vivid colour and strong scent are believed to guide souls home, so families strew the petals in a path leading from the grave or the street to the altar.
Q 04Which sweet bread, topped with bone-shaped dough, is eaten for Day of the Dead?
Pan de muerto
Pan de muerto, 'bread of the dead', is not only left for the departed: families and friends share it themselves, at the graveside or around the home altar.
Q 05What is the elegantly dressed female skeleton, from a 1910s satirical broadside, that became a symbol of the Day of the Dead?
La Catrina
La Catrina began as a jab at Mexicans who aped European fashion: a grinning skull in a plumed hat, printed on a 1913 broadside whose verses warned that today's powdered ladies will end up as skulls.
Q 06Which international distinction did Mexico's Day of the Dead receive in 2008?
A UNESCO intangible heritage listing
A UNESCO intangible heritage listing was granted in 2008; it describes families laying petals, candles and offerings along the path from the cemetery so the returning souls can find their way home.
Q 07Which paper craft represents the element of wind on an ofrenda?
Papel picado
Papel picado is so light that the slightest breeze stirs it, which is why it stands for wind; artisans chisel each design through dozens of stacked sheets of tissue paper at once.
Q 08Which of these items is traditionally placed on an altar to quench the thirst of returning spirits?
A glass of water
A glass of water is set out because the dead are believed to arrive thirsty after the long journey; the water also stands for one of the four elements that an ofrenda brings together.
Q 09Which fragrant tree resin is burned as incense on Day of the Dead ofrendas?
Copal
Copal smoke is believed to purify the space around the altar and carry prayers upward; the resin was burned in ceremonies across Mesoamerica long before the Spanish arrived.
Q 10What are the decorated sugar or clay skulls, often bearing a person's name, called?
Calaveras
Calaveras made of sugar are given to living friends as well as left for the dead, with the recipient's own name iced across the forehead as a joke about what awaits everyone.
Q 11Which hot, thick masa drink is poured for the living and set on altars for the dead?
Atole
Atole, a hot corn drink thickened with masa, takes its name from Nahuatl ātōlli; it is served to mourners and set on altars for returning souls.
Q 12The holiday's dates came to coincide with which two Catholic feasts?
All Saints' and All Souls' Days
All Saints' and All Souls' Days fall on November 1 and 2; in Mexico the spirits of dead children are said to return a full day ahead of the adults, who follow on November 2.
Q 13Which 1947 novel follows an alcoholic British consul through a single Day of the Dead in Mexico?
Under the Volcano
Q 21Toys are brought to the ofrenda for the dead known by which affectionate name?
Los angelitos
Los angelitos, 'the little angels', are deceased children, remembered on November 1 with toys and sweets on the ofrenda; adults instead receive bottles of tequila or mezcal.
Q 22Which Mexican state is known for its Day of the Dead cemetery vigils, especially on the island of Janitzio?
Michoacán
Michoacán's island of Janitzio draws crowds for its vigil: Purépecha families build an altar on the grave itself and sit beside it through the night, praying by candlelight.
Q 23On the sweet bread baked for Day of the Dead, the bone-shaped strips arranged in a ring are said to portray what?
The circle of life
Under the Volcano tracks Geoffrey Firmin's last day, the Day of the Dead of 1938, beneath Popocatépetl; its author Malcolm Lowry had himself arrived in Cuernavaca on the holiday two years earlier.
Q 14Which savoury dish, steamed in big batches, is among the most common foods made for Day of the Dead offerings?
Tamales
Tamales feed both sides of the reunion: families steam them by the dozen, set some on the altar for the dead and share the rest among the living.
Q 15Which Mexican name for the holiday's orange flower comes from Nahuatl for 'twenty flower'?
Cempasúchil
Cempasúchil comes from Nahuatl cempōhualxōchitl, 'twenty flower'; twenty was the base of the Aztec counting system, which made it a number of completeness.
Q 16Lake Pátzcuaro's fishermen, who paddle out by candlelight on the Night of the Dead, cast wing-shaped nets named after which creature?
Butterflies
Butterflies give the nets their name: in candlelit canoes off the island of Janitzio, the fishermen raise and dip the wide mariposa nets in a display staged for the Night of the Dead.
Q 17Which James Bond film's opening inspired Mexico City's first official Día de Muertos parade in 2016?
Spectre
Spectre (2015) opens with a Day of the Dead parade that did not exist; the interest it stirred led the government to stage a real one through the capital in October 2016.
Q 18Which Aztec goddess, the 'Lady of the Dead,' ruled the underworld and watched over bones?
Mictecacíhuatl
Mictecacíhuatl was said to swallow the stars by day as well as guard the bones of the dead, and the Aztec feasts of the dead held in her honour lasted a month.
Q 19In Ocotepec, Morelos, which families open their homes to all visitors for the Day of the Dead?
The newly bereaved
The newly bereaved build an 'ofrenda nueva' for a relative who died in the past year; visitors bring or light a candle for the dead and are given food and a hot drink in return.
Q 20What do families leave out on the Day of the Dead so that visiting spirits can rest after their long journey?
Pillows and blankets
Pillows and blankets are set out so the dead can rest after the trip; in some towns families also spend the whole night beside relatives' graves.
The circle of life is the usual reading; the knob on top is said to be a skull and the strips bones, so the loaf stands for the dead person and eating it is a playful way of 'eating the dead'.
Q 24The orange flower of Day of the Dead altars belongs to which botanical genus?
Tagetes
Tagetes erecta grows wild in central Mexico, where the Aztecs both gathered and cultivated it for medicine, ceremony and decoration long before it filled Day of the Dead markets.
Q 25In which country do Kichwa families gather in the cemetery with food for the Day of the Dead?
Ecuador
Ecuador's Kichwa families spend the day in the cemetery sharing food with their dead, and their spiced purple drink, colada morada, now appears on restaurant menus across the country each season.
Q 26Which candied sweet, simmered in dark piloncillo syrup with cinnamon, is a Day of the Dead classic?
Calabaza en tacha
Calabaza en tacha is pumpkin slowly candied with raw cane sugar and cinnamon until dark and sticky; wedges go onto ofrendas for the dead and into bowls for the family.
Q 27Historically, what was the holiday's main alcoholic drink?
Pulque
Pulque, the milky fermented sap of the agave, was central Mexico's everyday drink until beer overtook it in the 20th century; today's altars more often hold tequila or mezcal.
Q 28Which ghost-filled José Zorrilla play is traditionally staged in Spain for the holiday?
Don Juan Tenorio
Don Juan Tenorio ends among tombs, statues and ghosts in a cemetery, which is why theatres in Spain and Mexico have long staged it at the start of November.
Q 29Which 1998 adventure game, inspired by Mexico's Day of the Dead folk art, follows a travel agent through a film-noir afterlife?
Grim Fandango
Grim Fandango, directed by Tim Schafer, mixes Aztec ideas of the afterlife with film noir: its hero sells travel packages to the newly dead, and good deeds in life earn a more comfortable crossing.
Q 30In the Yucatán, which dish of masa and pork lard is prepared around November 1 and eaten over the following days?
Mukbil pollo
Mukbil pollo is a giant pie of masa, lard, chicken and pork, wrapped in banana leaves and buried for hours in a pit oven, then dug up and shared.