Day of the Dead Countdown 2026

November 2, 2026 is the Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos. This countdown runs to midnight in your own time zone and shows the days, hours and minutes left before families welcome back the souls of those they have lost.

Two days, two visits. In Mexican tradition the souls of children, the angelitos, return on November 1, and those of adults on November 2. In many regions the preparations start earlier, with October 28 and 31 set aside for particular souls.

The ofrenda. The home altar gathers a photo of the person remembered, candles, copal incense, water, salt, their favorite food and drink, pan de muerto, sugar skulls, papel picado and above all orange cempasúchil marigolds, whose color and scent guide the souls home. Many families also spend the night at the cemetery beside decorated graves.

La Catrina. The elegant skeleton was born around 1912 in an etching by José Guadalupe Posada, mocking Mexicans who aped European fashion. Diego Rivera dressed her and named her Catrina in his 1947 mural Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central. She is now the face of the celebration.

Not Halloween. The dates sit side by side and the skulls look alike, but the meaning differs: the Day of the Dead is a joyful family reunion with the dead, not a night of fear. UNESCO added Mexico's indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2008, and celebrations now fill cities across the United States, from Los Angeles to San Antonio.

Keep the countdown full screen while you build your ofrenda, or create your own to remember someone special, with a secret message that only opens on November 2.