Día de los Muertos – News, Research and Analysis – The Conversation

Children trick or treat and wear Halloween costumes for a full week during Day of the Dead season in Mexico. FG Trade Latin/Collection E+ via Getty Images

October 30, 2023

Day of the Dead is taking on Halloween traditions, but the sacred holiday is far more than a ‘Mexican Halloween’

Mathew Sandoval, Arizona State University

Halloween’s influence is transforming popular festivities around Día de los Muertos and its ceremonial customs in rural and urban areas of Mexico in some fascinating ways.

The mass-marketing of the Day of the Dead is evident in the costumes that people buy for the day. Man Hon Lam / EyeEm Getty Images

October 27, 2021

How commercialization over the centuries transformed the Day of the Dead

Mathew Sandoval, Arizona State University

A Mexican-American scholar writes that in the 1700s, Day of the Dead generated the largest annual market in Mexico City.

For the Aztecs, Day of the Dead rituals helped people find balance in their personal lives and social ties. Eyepix/NurPhoto via Getty Images

October 30, 2020

What Day of the Dead tells us about the Aztec philosophy of happiness

Lynn Sebastian Purcell, State University of New York Cortland

Day of the Dead rituals help people connect with their ancestors, which the Aztecs believed was key to well-being.

Revelers dressed as Catrina, an iconic Day of the Dead skeleton, at a holiday parade in Mexico City, Oct. 21, 2018. Reuters/Andres Stapff

October 31, 2019

Day of the Dead: From Aztec goddess worship to modern Mexican celebration

Kirby Farah, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

It may sound like a solemn affair, but the Day of the Dead – which blends indigenous and Catholic ritual – is a convivial celebration that allows Mexicans to reconnect with deceased loved ones.

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