The Day of the Dead in Mexico

Cultural festivities for  the Day of the Dead (Dia de Los Muertos) in Mexico should emphasize the spiritual over the commercial. Much of the activity I’m seeing around San Miguel de Allende is much more commercial than it should be, and this seems to be the result of too much media attention in the US. Caterinas, painted skulls, and skeletons abound. Is this respectful to the sacred tradition of the holiday? Families get together to make flowers and use them to adorn altars, they gather at home or at el cementerio to remember their departed loved ones, they DO NOT dance around with someone dressed up as a Catrina, and to multiply these Catrina figures (a skeleton dolled up as a tawdry female, for those who don’t know) does a terrible disservice to the spiritual beliefs of the occasion. You might even go as far as to call it sacrilegious. As a cultural festival in honor of the day, it is all rather tasteless. This is just another example of how the US mass media have commercialized and corrupted the traditions and cultures of North America.