In the chapter “Todos Santos, Día de Muertos” of El laberinto de la soledad, Octavio Paz turns to the fiesta. In its ceremonies, national, local, of the guild or of the family, he writes, “el mexicano se abre al exterior” (the Mexican opens himself to the outside).
In the fiesta, according to Paz, “el mexicano no intenta regresar, sino salir de sí mismo, sobrepasarse” (the Mexican does not try to return, but to go out of himself, to surpass himself).