To the Addamses, family is still family even when they are dead, so they have many traditions in which they wake the dead, though they most often do it in the autumn. Many times, it is a game they play during Halloween, but any day in autumn... preferably when the last leaf of the tree falls... would do for them, as it signifies their celebration of the cycle of life and death. How they do it is depicted differently in each movie and series.
Addams Family Movie (1991)[]
In the 1991 movie, in which Uncle Fester reunites with his family after a mishap in the Bermuda Triangle, they entertain guests during a Halloween party by playing the "wake the dead" game. Pugsley and Wednesday, in their excitement, shout at the tombstones and call the ancestors by name to wake up, but Uncle Fester corrects them with a shovel in his hand claiming they have to dig up the graves first, as that is part of the fun.
The Musical[]
In the musical, the Addams wake the dead on the autumn night on which the last leaf falls, and do so merely by dancing on the graves in the graveyard, and it doesn't take long for the ghosts of said ancestors to arise and join the party. Afterwards, Uncle Fester stops the ghosts from returning to the afterlife as he asks for their help in helping Wednesday find true love, and they reluctantly agree.
Addams Family Movie (2019)[]
In the 2019 movie, Morticia does a smaller version of this tradition when she sets up an ouija board in the graveyard, using it and a crystal ball as a "phone" to call the souls of her deceased parents so she and Wednesday can have tea with them on the anniversary of their 20th death anniversary. When Wednesday didn't show up on account of a phase she's going through, Morticia voices her concern to her parents, who remind her she also had a perky past at that age trying to join the girl scouts, and reassures the worried mother that, when the time is right, Wednesday would do the right thing in the end.
Wednesday (Netflix series)[]
This activity wasn't mentioned in the show directly, but Wednesday attempted to do this on her own several times in order to contact her ancestor Goody Adams after said spirit first reached her. After such attempts allowed her to get a clue from Goody, it lead to a secret shrine in the house that belonged to the descendants of the enemy hidden in the study... Wednesday shrugs it off by saying her family has a similar shrine in the living room, as it has more leg room for "year-round Dia De Los Muertos". Said celebrations could be her family's usual way of contacting their ancestors even without psychic powers, though it's only on that particular holiday they could do it on a larger scale then usual.