Spooky season is right around the corner. Up north, that means plastic skeletons on the lawn and a bowl of candy by the door. Down here the skeletons get dressed up too, but the season is about something warmer: welcoming the people you’ve lost back home for a few nights.

That starts with the ofrenda, and most families have theirs finished by the evening of October 31, when the first souls are expected. There’s no rule that says you have to wait until the last week, though. If you want to start in mid-October, buying candles a few at a time and pulling photos out of drawers as the month goes on, nobody is going to stop you. And if you’re still hunting for a photo of your grandmother on the afternoon of the 31st, you’re in good company.

The days each have a job

The dates aren’t arbitrary. Different days welcome different souls.

• October 28 is for those who died in accidents or by violence
• October 30 and 31 are for children
• November 1 is All Saints’ Day
• November 2 is All Souls’ Day, for the adults

Which gives you a way to plan backward. If your altar honors a child, have it ready by the evening of the 30th. If it’s for an adult, the 31st gives you room.

What goes on it

The core elements are consistent across Mexico. Photographs of the people you’re welcoming. Candles for faith and to light the way. Water for the journey. Salt for purification. Marigolds, called cempasúchil, whose scent is said to guide the souls home. Incense. And food, specifically the food they loved.

Beyond that, there’s real latitude. A favorite book. A pack of cigarettes. A team jersey. The point is recognition, not correctness.

Two etiquette rules worth knowing

Skip “Feliz Día de Muertos.” It sounds like the natural thing to say, and you’ll see it on greeting cards and social posts, but for many families this is a season of remembrance, not a party, and “happy” lands wrong. Loco Gringo has a short piece on what not to say on Day of the Dead. If you want to say something, ask who they’re remembering this year.

Leave off the photo of anyone who died within the past year. The belief is that a soul in its first year is still making the journey to Mictlán, the land of the dead (Metnal, in Maya tradition). Putting their photo on the altar too soon can pull them back before they arrive and leave them stuck in between. So the newly departed wait a year for their place on the ofrenda. Some families add that anyone who died less than three months before the holiday spends it as a helper, guiding the other souls home. Customs vary from town to town, but if you’re setting up an altar for the first time, this is the one to know.

Here on the peninsula, it’s called something else

If you’re in Akumal, or anywhere in Quintana Roo and Yucatán, you’re not exactly doing Día de Muertos. You’re doing Hanal Pixán, a Maya phrase meaning food of the souls.

Same three days. But the altar looks different, and the differences are the good part.

A Hanal Pixán altar carries a green cross representing the ceiba, the sacred Maya tree. Embroidered tablecloths go under the food. Gourds of water are set out in groups of four, seven, and nine. Tradition holds that 22 food offerings are placed, thirteen for the sky gods and nine for the gods of the underworld.

Then there’s the food. Pib, also called mucbipollo, is the dish of the season: a large tamal of corn masa and lard, stuffed with seasoned chicken or pork, wrapped in banana leaves and baked underground. You’ll also find xec, a citrus and jícama salad, sweet papaya, tamales de x’pelón, and balché, a fermented drink made from tree bark.

Loco Gringo’s guide to Hanal Pixán in Yucatán is the best English-language explainer we’ve found, and their broader piece on holiday traditions across Mexico puts the season in context.

One practical note for residents: start pricing your pib now. Bakeries and vendors across the peninsula take orders weeks ahead and the good ones sell out. This is not a November 1st errand.

If you’re visiting for it

Late October and early November are quiet, affordable weeks on this coast, and you’re well positioned for the bigger celebrations inland. Akumal is two hours from the colonial city of Valladolid, where the cemeteries and plazas fill for Hanal Pixán, and four from Mérida.

Between altar days, there’s plenty else. Cenotes worth the drive are at their emptiest this time of year, and the archaeological sites and cultural day trips inland are cooler and calmer in the fall than at any other point on the calendar. Akumal Direct also keeps a good list of day trips and things to do from here.

For where to stay, Akumal Direct has villas open across the fall season, September through early November, with a concierge credit toward tours and transportation. If you’re looking further ahead, they also handle holiday villas for Thanksgiving through New Year’s. And you’ll find rentals from local owners throughout our own directory.

One last thing, eight days later

After Hanal Pixán ends, some communities hold the octava, a final gathering eight days on. Rows of candles are lit in doorways so the souls can find their way back out of the village.

Which is a good note to end on, and a good argument for not rushing to pack the altar away on the 3rd. The season takes its time. So can you.

And before you plan around Day of the Dead, know that the season opens six weeks earlier. We wrote about that here: There’s a Whole Holiday Before Day of the Dead.