Xantolo 2026 in the Huasteca Potosina

The image of Xantolo is the comparsa: a troupe of men, women and children in masks and costumes who dance for the dead in the streets, at the altars and in the plazas. The cast varies from town to town, but the recurring characters are the vaquero or caporal who leads the group, Death, the devil with his whip, the old man and the old woman, and in some places the pregnant woman. The dances are called vinuetes, and the music is son huasteco played by a trío of violin, huapanguera and jarana. The disguise is believed to protect the dancers from wandering spirits, and the huehues in turn keep evil spirits away from the houses they visit.

Each region has its own style. In San Martín Chalchicuautla the Coles lead the parade with the Mamanina, the community's mother, and Comanches in feather headdresses; in Chapulhuacanito, a Nahua community of Tamazunchale, devils in suits and black leather masks lead coles and viejas in painted wooden masks. Joining a comparsa is not a one-off: dancers commit to it for years, and in some Nahua communities they may not take off their costume until November 4, after a cleansing with lemongrass and copal smoke.

Xantolo begins on September 29, the feast of San Miguel Arcángel, when families set out the first small offering and the comparsas hold the bajada de máscaras: the masks, kept all year in sacks up in the rafters, are brought down, checked, repaired and repainted, then purified with copal smoke and prayers and offered aguardiente before anyone may dance in them. Masks are carved in cedar or pemoche wood, or made of papier-mâché, and are blessed before use. In Aquismón, whose patron is San Miguel, the date doubles as the town's own feast.

Two more offerings follow in many communities. On October 18, San Lucas, the second offering is for those who died tragically: in the Nahua villages of the Veracruz and Hidalgo Huasteca it is dedicated to people killed in accidents or by violence, with a cross decorated with white flowers set outside the house. On October 28, San Judas Tadeo, a third offering is laid in places such as Huejutla, and around that date families begin building the flower arch.

The Huasteca altar is framed by an arco: four posts at the corners and crossbars bent into two arches, covered in cempasúchil and palm, from which hang oranges, bread, sweets and fruit. The arch marks the entrance to the world of the dead, and a path of marigold petals runs from it to the door so the souls can find their way in. October 30 is the day of the flower market and of building the altar. In Nahua homes the offering stands on a table with an embroidered cloth; Tének families often lay it on the ground, touching the earth.

The children's offering on October 31 is sweet and mild, with no chile; the adults' on November 1 brings tamales, mole, coffee, chocolate, beer and aguardiente. The dish of the season is zacahuil, the giant Huastec tamal, with bocoles and bolim. If you are invited into a house to eat from the offering, accept: the dead have already taken the essence of the food, and turning it down is considered disrespectful.

Tamazunchale, on Highway 85 south of Xilitla, holds one of the biggest municipal Xantolo festivals in the state. In 2025 the town hall ran it from October 27 to November 2, with altars and a Concurso Regional de Comparsas on the big Xantolo stage in front of the municipal palace: sixteen comparsas competed, and Huehue Iwintinin took first place ahead of Yolopakilistli, the troupe that usually represents the town at the state festival. Out in the Nahua communities of the municipality, such as Chapulhuacanito and Atlajque, the old rituals of the huehues are kept.

Tancanhuitz, close to Aquismón, ties Xantolo to the voladores of the Tamaletom ceremonial center. Huehuetlán holds cemetery ceremonies with cempasúchil and copal, a huehue parade and a bajada de máscaras in its plaza, and serves zacahuil. Coxcatlán, a small municipality bordering Huehuetlán and Axtla de Terrazas, has no Xantolo program we could find published; go with a local guide or ask at the town hall what is planned.

Xantolo does not stop at the state line. Huejutla de Reyes, in the Hidalgo Huasteca, stages one of the biggest municipal celebrations in the region; its 14th edition runs from October 30 to November 2, 2026, with a monumental altar of more than 1,100 square meters in the center (this year recreating the old stone bridge of the Tecoluco neighborhood, swept away by a flood in 1990), cuadrillas (as comparsas are called there) in Plaza 21 de Mayo, and a closing in which 2,026 candles are lit for the ánima sola. The town expects about 80,000 visitors. In Huejutla the Xantolo is officially closed only on November 30, when people believe the souls finally leave. In the Veracruz Huasteca, Ixhuatlán de Madero keeps the full cycle of offerings, from San Miguel to a meal in the cemetery on November 3, and in Tantoyuca the offering stays up for eight days, until the ochavario.

Xantolo is a family and community ritual first and a spectacle second. Ask before photographing an altar inside a house, a family at a grave or a dancer up close, and never touch a comparsa's masks: they have been blessed and are treated as sacred objects. If a family invites you to eat from the offering or to drink a little aguardiente, accept at least a taste; refusing is rude. Bring cash, since small communities rarely take cards, and plan your trip back without counting on phone signal in the sierra. In the cemeteries keep to the paths, keep your voice down and leave the candles and flowers where they are.