What is Xantolo
Xantolo is the name given to Day of the Dead ceremonies in the Huasteca region and in several communities in eastern Mexico, especially in Veracruz, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, and Tamaulipas. It is a celebration that blends indigenous beliefs and Catholic practices, with its own rites, music, food, and a strong communal presence.
Origin and meaning of the name
The term comes from the indigenous languages of the region and refers both to the festival and to the set of practices that accompany the remembrance of the deceased. Although the word may vary between villages, the meaning is similar: to remember the dead with respect, song, and offerings. In Xantolo, collective memory is expressed through rituals that have pre-Hispanic roots.
Dates and timing, how time is celebrated
The celebrations coincide with the Day of the Dead cycle, at the end of October and the beginning of November. Each community organizes different sessions to vigil for children, adults, and to commemorate specific groups of deceased people. The nights are long: candles are lit, offerings are taken to homes and cemeteries, and the community participates together.
Central elements of Xantolo
Xantolo integrates altars, aromas, music, and food. Altars display photographs, personal objects, the deceased’s favorite foods, marigolds (cempasúchil), papel picado, and candles. In many localities copal is used to purify the space, and tamales, atoles, and other traditional dishes are prepared. The offering is a bridge, a way to sustain the presence of those who are no longer here.
Music, dance, and comparsas
Music is essential, especially the son huasteco with violin and guitar, and in some communities comparsas parade through the streets. The similarities between musical rituals and ancient expressions are a subject of study and show how the celebration is reconstructed each year to keep memory alive. Dance accompanies offerings, processions, and nocturnal festivities.
Rituals in the cemetery, cleaning and vigil
Visiting the grave, cleaning it, and decorating it is a collective act, not only a family one. The vigil can include prayers, songs, and prolonged watches until dawn. Food is shared among neighbors, lights are lit, and vessels of water are placed for the returning soul. These practices reinforce social cohesion and the transmission of knowledge across generations.
The mix of beliefs, living syncretism
Xantolo is an example of syncretism, where indigenous cosmologies about life and death converge with the Catholic ceremonies introduced during the colonial period. It is not a fixed fusion but an ongoing dialogue, where ancient practices adapt to new meanings and where the community decides what to preserve and what to transform.
Regional variants, diversity of expressions
Although the central spirit is remembrance, each town has its forms. In some places altars predominate at the front door of the house; in others community offerings are made in the plaza. Foods change according to local ingredients, and songs adjust to the regional repertoire. That diversity is a richness and helps to understand Mexico’s cultural multiplicity.
Xantolo and intangible heritage, why it matters
Xantolo is intangible heritage because it embodies knowledge, techniques, music, and collective memory. Keeping it alive supports local identity and the protection of ancestral know-how. Additionally, the celebration offers keys to study how societies face loss, how they transmit consolation, and how they structure communal life.
Xantolo in urban contexts, adaptation and continuity
In urban areas practices are reinvented: offerings are organized in public spaces and museums, and educational activities are created. These replicas allow migrants to carry the tradition with them without losing their ties to their community of origin. Local museums, like ours, collaborate in preservation and dissemination processes.
Xantolo in Tultepec, connection with our traditions
In Tultepec the remembrance of the dead coexists with other local cultural expressions, such as pyrotechnics and popular fairs. The use of rockets and fireworks, regulated and ritualized, accompanies public celebrations, and at events like the Tultepec Pyrotechnics Fair communal manifestations can be seen that recall the strength of the collective. We have already talked about Tultepec traditions and their role in local life.
Memory, museum and territory, how to articulate preservation
At the Museo del Mamut de Tultepec we work to connect elements of cultural memory with scientific and artistic dissemination. As in exhibitions that address history and landscape, we seek to build bridges between tangible and intangible heritage. For example, the dialogue between our collections and local festive practices allows us to propose new ways to bring the public closer to regional history.
Comparisons with other celebrations, affinities and differences
Xantolo shares traits with other Day of the Dead commemorations in Mexico, but its rhythm, music, and food repertoire make it distinctive. Comparing these variants helps to understand the intensity of the phenomenon and to value the heterogeneity of local memories. It also ties into the idea that communities reconstruct the past to live the present.
The celebration as teaching, generational transmission
Children and young people learn by observing, participating, and helping prepare altars. Preparing food, carving copal, and decorating with flowers are practices that are transmitted and ensure continuity. Transmission is not only technical; it also incorporates values, family stories, and narratives that give meaning to communal life.
The role of cultural heritage in the local economy
Festivities generate economic activity—from the sale of flowers and food to cultural tourism. Managed with sustainability criteria, these dynamics can promote the recognition of Xantolo as a cultural resource that boosts the local economy without sacrificing authenticity. In Tultepec, that tension between tradition and market is evident in fairs and public gatherings.
Connecting with other forms of memory, traces in the landscape
Current practices find echoes in ancient narratives and pre-Hispanic artistic manifestations, such as rock paintings that document rites and distant cosmologies. We have already addressed related issues in texts like Rock Paintings, Evidence of the Past. That continuity shows that attention to the dead is a constant in many societies.
Closing, the value of Xantolo for understanding ourselves
Xantolo is not just a festival; it is a social practice that helps us sustain memory, strengthen bonds, and explain ways of living absence. Understanding it requires listening to communities, observing rites, and protecting the intangible heritage that supports identities. At the Museo del Mamut de Tultepec we encourage that dialogue between history, science, and tradition, as we do in other initiatives—for example on paleontology and memory and in exhibitions that cross art and heritage, such as our pieces on the local context The Mamut of Tultepec, curiosities about mammoths.
If you would like to know how these traditions coexist with other local expressions, such as pyrotechnics, you can review our articles and events; there you will find the social fabric that makes Xantolo a unique and deeply living celebration.
