Dia de los Muertos and Halloween

Question

I have had this explained to me before, but what are the main differences between Halloween and Dia de los Muertos?

Answer 1

Halloween is a secular (i.e. not religious) tradition from Celtic origin. El día de los muertos varies from country to country, but it generally has Catholic connections. In Mexico, it goes back to the Aztecs and has to do more with celebrating and special foods than wearing costumes. In Spain, it is about mourning the dead, and is very serious and formal. The proximity between both celebrations is purely coincidental.

Rather, Halloween is a pagan tradition of Celtic origin. - DonReba, Nov 1, 2012

Answer 2

two very different traditions from very different cultures that happen to occur on the same day,

Celtic´s New Year: halloween

Día de los muertos or Día de Todos los Santos (catholic tradition)

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One thing to keep in mind about religious (and commercial) festivities is that hegemonic religions like Catholicism tried to hide or fade away ´pagan´ beliefs overlapping dates with Catholic celebrations, while subjected people tried to preserve their traditions by assimilating their festivities to ´official´ and allowed celebrations. Halloween is one of them, because Celtic New year was celebrated in March and it was related to the end of harvest.

Another example is Christmas, that is celebrated the day the Sun begins to return to the northern hemisphere, the northern winter solstice, exactly like ancient sun-worshipping cultures did. But Christ is not the sun, is it? He was just born that very same day.

This is called SYNCRETISM when a (RC) coopts anoter tradions customs, beliefs etc. It is commonly claimed that the date of December 25th for Christmas was selected in order to correspond with the Roman Dies Natalis Solis Invictu, or "Birthday of the Sun. - jhonAdams, Nov 1, 2012