In recent years Halloween costumes and masks featuring Marvel superheroes and Disney princesses have overshadowed the celebration of Dia los Muertos in Mexico. A recent resurgence of local folk characters are seen in this image of a costume and make-up contest near the Zocalo in Oaxaca City.
The present form of the celebration of the Day of the Dead in Mexico has come about through a lengthy and circuitous historical development, which has resulted in the fusion of certain southern European folk practices, medieval and Renaissance Catholic rituals, and indigenous Mesoamerican customs. The feast of of All Saints’ Day and the liturgical celebration of All Souls’ Day have long existed in the European Christian world.*
*Days of Death, Days of Life by Kristin Norget, Columbia University Press, 2006
