Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead)

16 Oct 2021 - 02 Nov 2021

The Salon,
Level 1

Daily from 10am – 7pm
Last admission at 6.30pm

Free Admission

Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead as it is known in English, is a Mexican holiday that takes place on 1 and 2 November every year to remember and honour family, friends and ancestors who have departed, thus celebrating the connection between life and death. Although the holiday consists of setting up altars, visiting cemeteries and artistic representations of skeletons and skulls, the mood is festive.

Background

In 2021, Mexico celebrates the 700th anniversary of the foundation of Mexico City, the 500th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlán and the 200 years of the consummation of Mexico’s independence. This year’s exhibition is dedicated to the Aztec empire, highlighting how they celebrated the Day of the Dead which comprises of a feast from their harvest of beans, chickpeas, corn, and pumpkin. These foods were part of the offerings given to the Aztec goddess Mictecacihuatl, the Lady of the Dead.

The Exhibition

The exhibition at The Salon of the National Museum will showcase two main elements:

A 360-degrees pyramid of approximately 4m x 4m x 4m, and
A market surrounding the pyramid

The pyramid is the central part of the exhibition as it will contain the main symbolisms of the celebration of Dia de Muertos to the Aztecs.
The Mesoamerican cultures, like the Aztecs, built pyramids, which were representations of sacred mountains that symbolized the center of the universe. The pyramid at the exhibition represents Tenochtitlan’s main pyramid, the Templo Mayor, or Main Temple. The Templo Mayor, or Main Temple, used to be in what now is the city centre of Mexico City. It was destroyed by the Spaniards in 1521, but an archeological site remains in present day’s historical centre.

The market display has two objectives: one is to bring together the Aztec celebration related to agriculture and, on the other hand, to showcase some of the fruits and vegetables originally from the territory of what is now Mexico, which through trade was brought to Spain and Europe, via the Atlantic, and to Asia via the Pacific trade with the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade route.

Family Time

Visit our permanent galleries with your little ones and play spot-the-artefact! Our colourful Early Learning Resources introduce pre-schoolers to our artefacts according to the themes of Numbers, Colours, and ABCs. Available at $8 per set from the Museum Label shop. For more children's activity booklets, click here.

Museum guide

Download our museum guide (English, Chinese, Bahasa Melayu, Tamil) to find out about the many treasures in our various galleries. In this guide, you will also find the floor plan for easier navigation. Enjoy your visit!

From food to performing arts, Southeast Asia’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is an important link to our past and intrinsic to our rich cultural identity. To pay homage to the time-honoured traditions and living expressions that define and connect us across the region, the National Museum of Singapore and the Maybank Foundation will be presenting a series of four original video artworks on the Museum’s LED Wall that showcase creative contemporary responses to the theme of intangible cultural heritage (ICH).

LED Wall