Ofrenda
A home altar set up in Mexico for the Day of the Dead, dressed with marigolds, food and photographs.
Also: Day of the Dead altar
Ofrenda is Spanish for offering. For the Day of the Dead, on 1 and 2 November, Mexican families build an altar at home or at the graveside to welcome the spirits of relatives who have died. It holds photographs, candles, favourite foods and drinks, sugar skulls, a special bread and cut paper banners. Orange marigolds, called cempasúchil, are the essential flower. Their colour and strong smell are said to guide the dead home, and petals are laid in paths to the door.