But the holiday’s commercialization has also ensured its survival. Given all this evidence, there doesn’t appear to be an era when Day of the Dead wasn’t intimately tied to financial activities and profiteering. Hellier-Tinoco has shown how Mexico’s “selling” of the Day of the Dead on the rustic island of Janitzio in the state of Michoacán transformed the small community ceremony into a spectacle attended by more than 100,000 tourists a year. Additionally, Mexico’s tourism industry positioned certain regional celebrations as the most “traditional” Day of the Dead festivals for tourists to explore. Many guidebooks and travel brochures highlighted Day of the Dead as a cultural event for tourists to attend and buy folk art related to the holiday. and European travelers as an “authentic” Mexican experience. Mexico’s tourism industry started promoting the holiday to U.S. The scholarship of anthropologists Stanley Brandes and Ruth Hellier-Tinoco has been influential for understanding how Mexico began “selling” Day of the Dead to the outside world in the mid-20th century. They write that villages are transformed into commercial fairs where people gather from communities many miles away to buy and sell foods, goods and services during the festival. A number of anthropologists in Mexico and the U.S. writing about Day of the Dead in the early and mid-20th century make special note of the sizable holiday markets. In short, Day of the Dead in Mexico City and other urban areas carried both religious and economic significance.ĭay of the Dead’s commercialization was also quite pronounced in rural Mexico. The swell of commercial activity on Day of the Dead also presented an opportunity for musicians, dancers and other entertainers to perform on the streets for money. However, according to Lomnitz, by the 1800s, the Day of the Dead markets in Mexico City were also selling clothing, shoes, furniture, tools, home decor and many other things. In other words, the holiday had become so commodified in Mexico City that it required government regulation.īy and large the markets and vendors in Mexico sold items related to the holiday – food, candy, bread, alcohol, candles, toys and religious items. In fact, the plazas and streets were so overwhelmed during the holiday with vendors, carts, booths and makeshift markets that the local government deemed it a “public disorder.” Mexico City’s mayor and city council eventually had to control Day of the Dead’s economic frenzy by enacting laws and issuing vendor permits. According to anthropologist Claudio Lomnitz, in the 1700s Day of the Dead generated the largest annual market in Mexico City.
Additionally, they could pay their local priest to say special prayers for the souls during Día de los Muertos, a practice that remained in effect through the 20th century.Īs Day of the Dead became a more popular and elaborate festival in Mexico, the associated commercial activity grew in size. In Mexico that meant Spanish colonizers and newly converted Indigenous Catholics were tasked with purchasing directly from the church candles and other religious items that could be used in offerings to those souls in purgatory. This could be done through prayer or by making offerings to the souls. It was the responsibility of the living to help alleviate the suffering of souls in purgatory and assist them in getting to heaven. According to 16th- and 17th-century Catholic belief, the majority of souls landed in purgatory after death, rather than heaven or hell. The Catholic religion also emphasized commercial activity in relation to All Saints and All Souls Day. The religious feasts supported the market and vice versa. In this respect, there wasn’t much distinction between commercial and religious activity. Sahagún noted the overwhelming bustle and financial activity that took place at the market in the capital city of Tenochtitlán, modern-day Mexico City, during the Aztec ritual feasts.Īll manner of foods and goods were sold to citizens to celebrate the Aztec feasts of the dead. Duran wrote in the 1570s that he was astounded to see how lavishly the Aztecs spent on supplies for their offerings to the dead. 2.Įarly Spanish chroniclers in Mesoamerica such as Diego Duran and Bernardino Sahagún documented the Aztec feasts for the dead known as Miccailhuitontli and Huey Miccailhuitl. During Mexico’s 300-year-long colonial period, which started in 1521, these Indigenous rituals were merged with the Spanish Catholic holy days for the dead known as All Saints, celebrated on Nov.
Day of the Dead brings together the annual feasts for the dead celebrated by pre-Hispanic Indigenous cultures such as the Aztec, Maya, Zapotec and Mixtec peoples.
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