What sweet bread is often placed on Day of the Dead ofrendas?

Pan de muerto is the sweet bread often placed on Day of the Dead ofrendas. Its name literally means “bread of the dead,” and it is prepared especially for Día de Muertos in Mexico, where families may put it on a home altar, share it at a gravesite or eat it during the holiday.

The best-known central Mexican version is a soft, lightly sweetened yeast bread commonly flavored with ingredients such as orange zest, orange-blossom water, anise or butter. It is often round, with strips of dough shaped to resemble bones and a small ball on top that can suggest a skull. Sugar or sesame seeds may finish the loaf, depending on the region and recipe.

Pan de muerto is not one perfectly standardized bread. Mexico has many regional styles, including loaves with different shapes, flavors and decorations. Its history reflects cultural mixing: Spanish Christian observances involving bread for the dead became intertwined with Indigenous Mexican traditions of honoring ancestors through food and offerings. A concha is also a Mexican sweet bread, but it is not the traditional bread specifically associated with Día de Muertos.