Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Spooky season is here, and as with most things in life, we've got options. On the one hand, there’s the notoriously sugar-obsessed celebration known as Halloween that occurs once per year, and on the other, you’ve got a two-day, sugar skull-obsessed Día de los Muertos.
Sure, both celebrations involve costumes, an overindulgence of sweets, and both include their fair share of creepy corpse decor, but for the love of Michael Myers, we beg you, please stop calling Día de los Muertos the “Mexican Halloween.”
In this episode we’ll draw a clear distinction between your everyday skeleton costume and the rich-in-folklore Calavera Catrina. We’ll also uncover how Halloween thrives on making the idea of death terrifying while Día de los Muertos focuses on honoring the dead—all while acknowledging that without death, there is no life. While Dia de los Muertos has various iterations throughout Latin America, all forms of the celebration are deeply rooted in a mixture of indigenous and Catholic beliefs. And in the same way the popularity of Halloween has transformed the ancient Celtic tradition into a billion-dollar industry, the Western world’s obsession with the afterlife is now hauling the ancient celebration of Día De los Muertos into the mainstream.
0:00 Recap
0:06 Halloween vs. Dia De Los Muertos
1:47 Halloween & Salem
3:27 Honoring The Dead
6:52 Origins of DDLM
8:06 DDLM Symbolism
13:40 Activism Around DDLM
14:17 Latin American Holidays
18:10 Commercializing Holidays
18:57 Coco’s Impact
21:30 Closing
#Radar2021 is a weekly news show that dives into current issues and breaks them down through various perspectives across the Latinx community.
Subscribe to the Radar 2021 channel now to stay up to date with episode clips featuring our bi-cultural host Gabriela Fresquez. New episodes every Thursday.
#Radar2021 #Halloween #DayOfTheDead
SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/RadarYouTubeTM
Follow Us:
Twitter: twitter.com/radartelemundo?lang=enRs
Instagram: instagram.com/radartelemundo
Radar 2021 takes current issues and breaks them down through various perspectives across the Latinx community. Through first-person reporting and documentary-style stories woven together by our host, Gabriela Fresquez, we delve into what makes Latinxs different and what unites us. From economic inequality to racial justice and LGBTQ+ issues to the climate crisis…to whose abuelita’s Pozole recipe tastes best, we’ve got nuestra gente covered.
We have different accents and experiences, but we are ALL Latinx.
We want to keep everyone on the Radar. New episodes every Thursday at 5pm EST.
Halloween VS Day Of The Dead | Radar 2021
youtube.com/radar
Spooky season is here, and as with most things in life, we've got options. On the one hand, there’s the notoriously sugar-obsessed celebration known as Halloween that occurs once per year, and on the other, you’ve got a two-day, sugar skull-obsessed Día de los Muertos.
Sure, both celebrations involve costumes, an overindulgence of sweets, and both include their fair share of creepy corpse decor, but for the love of Michael Myers, we beg you, please stop calling Día de los Muertos the “Mexican Halloween.”
In this episode we’ll draw a clear distinction between your everyday skeleton costume and the rich-in-folklore Calavera Catrina. We’ll also uncover how Halloween thrives on making the idea of death terrifying while Día de los Muertos focuses on honoring the dead—all while acknowledging that without death, there is no life. While Dia de los Muertos has various iterations throughout Latin America, all forms of the celebration are deeply rooted in a mixture of indigenous and Catholic beliefs. And in the same way the popularity of Halloween has transformed the ancient Celtic tradition into a billion-dollar industry, the Western world’s obsession with the afterlife is now hauling the ancient celebration of Día De los Muertos into the mainstream.
0:00 Recap
0:06 Halloween vs. Dia De Los Muertos
1:47 Halloween & Salem
3:27 Honoring The Dead
6:52 Origins of DDLM
8:06 DDLM Symbolism
13:40 Activism Around DDLM
14:17 Latin American Holidays
18:10 Commercializing Holidays
18:57 Coco’s Impact
21:30 Closing
#Radar2021 is a weekly news show that dives into current issues and breaks them down through various perspectives across the Latinx community.
Subscribe to the Radar 2021 channel now to stay up to date with episode clips featuring our bi-cultural host Gabriela Fresquez. New episodes every Thursday.
#Radar2021 #Halloween #DayOfTheDead
SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/RadarYouTubeTM
Follow Us:
Twitter: twitter.com/radartelemundo?lang=enRs
Instagram: instagram.com/radartelemundo
Radar 2021 takes current issues and breaks them down through various perspectives across the Latinx community. Through first-person reporting and documentary-style stories woven together by our host, Gabriela Fresquez, we delve into what makes Latinxs different and what unites us. From economic inequality to racial justice and LGBTQ+ issues to the climate crisis…to whose abuelita’s Pozole recipe tastes best, we’ve got nuestra gente covered.
We have different accents and experiences, but we are ALL Latinx.
We want to keep everyone on the Radar. New episodes every Thursday at 5pm EST.
Halloween VS Day Of The Dead | Radar 2021
youtube.com/radar
