The word that we can use to describe Dia de los Muertos is expressionism. Even though the idea of the dead coming back to live with the living is grotesque and may seem nightmarish - skulls, skeletons and ghosts are portrayed to be attractive, colourful and masks drawn on people's faces are considered to be the beauty of the celebration.
Music is an important part of Dia de los Muertos. Participants normally wear shells, bells or other noisemakers on their clothes and jewels. The reason for this is that the dead is a part of the living community, but invisible to the mortal men. Joyful noises will wake the dead from the eternal sleep and since many of the dead are musicians who enjoyed dancing and instruments, music is to welcome them home.
Some of the decorations and masks are only half-decorated with skulls. This is to represent that everything - no matter how beautiful - will end up being exposed as nothing more than a skull and a skeleton. It can also resemble the cultural belief that even though people have passed away, their cultures and contributions have not. Calaveras representing firefighters might still ride in a firetruck and those being cowboys' might still ride a horse.