With the holiday season beginning to ramp up in earnest, it often seems that the true meaning of many of the holidays being celebrated have been lost—replaced with exhortations by major companies to buy, buy, buy.

While Christmas most readily comes to mind, there are a plethora of other, less widespread holidays that are victims of the steady march of capitalism. This year, total holiday spending is expected to reach $1.19 trillion worldwide, $277 billion of it in the US alone—both up 2% from 2023. 

Diwali, a Hindu holiday celebrated by over one billion people worldwide and millions in the US between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, has steadily become more mainstream, and by extension, more commercialized. Indian Americans, who make up 20% of the nation’s Asian-American population, have a median income of $145,000, according to the Pew Research Center. The average American household, by contrast, earns a median income of $80,600. This, coupled with the fact that Diwali spending exceeded $22 billion in 2024 in the U.S. alone, has seen major brands such as Target, Costco, Hallmark and Walmart offer Diwali-themed products.

Another holiday affected by consumerism: Día de los Muertos. Celebrated between Nov. 1 and Nov. 2, it has become increasingly mass-marketed in recent years. Target stocked its shelves this October with cheap decorations, California and Arizona sold Day of the Dead lottery tickets and Nike sold Día de los Muertos shoes. These companies, along with countless others, have caused some to wonder if the true meaning of the holiday has been degraded by the wholesale production of many objects important to the holiday.

Consumerism, it seems, is here not only to stay, but to increase each year, co-opting and commercializing long-valued traditions, all in the name of profit.