Abstract
The funeral practices of the Otomí people of the Sierra Madre (Mexico) involve
the gradual exclusion of the deceased from the social space and his subsequent reintegration into the world of the dead, an afterlife from which he can only return once a year.
The living have the task of accompanying the soul along the path, favouring its ontological
transformation with both acts of care and separation. For the Otomì community of San
Gregorio, the critical event par excellence, the loss of one of its members, became the driving force for the regeneration of social life.
Keywords: Funeral practices; Day of the Dead; artefacts; ritual space; food offerings.