Cempasúchil is the orange marigold you see everywhere during Día de Muertos, and it is there for a reason.

According to Mexico’s Secretaría de Agricultura, its color is believed to represent the light of the sun, which guides souls back to the world of the living, and its strong scent helps them find the way to their loved ones.

That is also why families lay a trail of its petals from the front door to the altar.

What does cempasúchil mean?

The name comes from the Nahuatl word cempohualxóchitl. According to CONABIO, Mexico’s national biodiversity commission, cempohualli means twenty and xóchitl means flower, so the name means “twenty flowers.” Because twenty was used among Indigenous peoples to mean “a lot,” it can also be read as “many flowers.”

You will also hear it called flor de muerto. The Secretaría de Agricultura lists other names too: cempoal, flor de difunto, flor de niño and veinte flores.

Why this flower for Día de Muertos?

Its use goes back a long way. The Secretaría de Agricultura says that since pre-Hispanic times the Mexica used cempasúchil to decorate altars, offerings and burials in honor of their dead. They associated it with the sun (Secretaría de Agricultura, Hidalgo) and saw it as a symbol of both life and death (Secretaría de Agricultura).

Today the meaning is about guidance. The color stands for sunlight, and the scent helps souls recognize the road home. One article from the Secretaría describes the flower as the meeting point between the path of the living and the path of the dead (Secretaría de Agricultura).

Why the trail of petals?

The petals are laid out as a path, a camino or sendero, from the door of the house to the altar (Secretaría de Agricultura). The purpose is to guide souls to the altar and to the offering set out in their honor (Secretaría de Agricultura).

Where does cempasúchil come from?

Cempasúchil is native to Mesoamerica, the region that today covers Mexico and Central America (CONABIO). In the wild it grows in the Balsas basin and western Mexico, and Indigenous peoples have been domesticating it for thousands of years.

It blooms after the rainy season, from July to November. It is grown in 14 Mexican states, including Puebla, Mexico City, Guanajuato, Tlaxcala and Hidalgo (Secretaría de Agricultura), and Puebla is the largest producer (Secretaría de Agricultura).

Words to know

Spanish	English
el cempasúchil	the Día de Muertos marigold
la flor de muerto	another common name for it
los pétalos	the petals
el camino de pétalos	the trail of petals
la ofrenda	the altar of offerings

Mexico has another flower with its own date: Yellow Flowers on September 21.

Practice Spanish with a Native Mexican Teacher

Knowing what a tradition means changes what you can talk about. If you want to practice conversations like this one with a native Mexican teacher, we run live small-group Spanish conversation classes throughout the year: Spanish Group Conversation Classes.

For the full picture of the holiday, read our Día de Muertos guide. Subscribe to the Speak Better Spanish newsletter.