The story
Xantolo Huasteca in Huasteca Potosina
Xantolo is the Huasteca region's version of Dia de Muertos, observed across late October into early November in Nahua and Teenek indigenous communities spanning San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, and Hidalgo. Families build home altars for returning spirits, masked dancers called huehues perform in village plazas, and cemeteries fill with marigold flowers, candles, and offerings through the multi-day observance.
In the Huasteca, a humid, mountainous region spanning parts of San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, Hidalgo, and neighboring states, the observance of the dead carries its own name and its own distinct performance tradition, separate from the more widely photographed Dia de Muertos customs of central and southern Mexico.