In several towns across Mexico, families kept an all-night vigil at a candlelit cemetery, waiting for the souls of their loved ones to return during the country’s Day of the Dead celebrations.

From Saturday night through Sunday morning, graves were covered with orange marigolds, fruit baskets, bottles of tequila and photographs of the departed.

Thick smoke from burning copal incense rose into the air as thousands of candles flickered in the dark.

The celebration begins on October 31, when families welcome the souls of children who have died, continues on November 1 with sweets and toys for the little ones believed to return, and ends on November 2, when adults are honored with their favorite meals and drinks.

In the towns of Tzintzuntzan and Arocutin, near Lake Patzcuaro in the western state of Michoacan, the ritual runs deep among Purepecha Indigenous families who have passed it down for generations.

Entire families gather at the cemetery through the night, decorating graves with marigolds — or cempasuchil — believed to guide spirits back with their color and scent.

At home and by the graves, relatives light candles, burn incense, and set out favorite foods and drinks of the departed to reconnect with them.

Sitting beside the grave of her grandson, who died at 21, 74-year-old homemaker Elvia Solorio Garibay reflected on the meaning of the night.

"As you can see, my whole family is here," she said. "My grandchildren have been coming since they were little. So I think that when I’m gone, they’ll have to come here too. That’s what I believe, and I hope it turns out that way."

The Day of the Dead dates back to Mexico’s pre-Hispanic civilizations and blends Indigenous beliefs about the afterlife with Catholic observances introduced during Spanish colonization.

For many families in towns like these, it remains both an act of remembrance and a promise to keep their traditions alive.

AP video by Martín Silva Rey and Eduardo Verdugo