In this four-week lesson, students will compare and contrast Mexico’s Day of the Dead with the United States’ Halloween. Students will learn the value of appreciating and understanding other cultures while at the same time preserving their own traditions and histories.

Created by Estela Soberón, September 2007
Translated by Maria Wagner

• Explore the origins of the events Halloween and Day of the Dead.


• Find differences and similarities between the events.


• Appreciate the richness that cultural diversity brings to our lives.


• Learn to appreciate other cultures in order to expand one’s personal world-view, while at the same time realizing the importance of conserving and valuing one’s own cultural traditions.

• Ask and answer questions about the subject.
• Collect, organize and interpret data.
• Analyze differences and similarities.
• Examine and understand cultural traditions.
• Reflect on the importance of conserving one’s own traditions and customs.
• Develop the four basic abilities of communication: write, listen, read, and speak.

The teacher will write the names of both events on the chalk board: Halloween and Day of the Dead. The teacher will also write some of the representative elements of each event, such as Mexico, United States, Flowers, “Jack-O-lanterns,” witches, small skulls of sugar, altars, trick or treat, Celtics, pre-Hispanic cultures, Spanish, Ireland, etc. Once the columns have been filled and the elements discussed, the teacher will ask the students the following question: In what ways are these two events related? The students will research both the events in order to answer this question. They should write down all the information and data gathered in their notebooks.

The students will watch a Day of the Dead video, found on the TIDES website, and will make a list of the important objects and items they observed on the ofrendas (altars).

• write summaries of both events using data found during the investigation
• write histories of terror
• create small skeletons dedicated to their teachers and friends
• build an ofrenda in the classroom
• write an essay about how important it is to maintain one’s own culture and traditions
• investigate the historical figure Jose Guadalupe Posada
• make a Halloween costume that will be entered in a contest

The students will create a diagram in which they will indicate differences and similarities between both events. For this activity, they should utilize biographies, information accessed from the Institute of Alexander Bain, and Wikipedia.

Halloween and Day of the Dead are festivals related to the theme of death.  Halloween is celebrated in the United States, while in Mexico the Day of the Dead has been celebrated for centuries.  At the root of both celebrations is the idea that there is life after death. Both have pagan origins, and are connected to All Hallow’s Eve, a festival that originated in Christianity.  Nevertheless, many of the rites and the symbols surrounding these events are different, as they arose in separate historical contexts and thus reflect the beliefs of different cultures.

Lesson Materials:

Halloween fact sheet Day of the Dead fact sheet Photos of Day of the Dead (Dia de lose Muretos) in Mexico Drawing materials
Computer with access to the Internet
Notebook of work.
Vea esta lección en Español aquí.

Links to Related TIDES Art Activities:

Day of the Dead Coloring ActivityDia de los Muertos Skull Activity Ofrenda