The narrow aisles of the popular Sonora Market, located in Mexico City, are visited by thousands of Mexicans before the end of the year to consult their fortune with witch doctors or tarot readers, while others seek to protect their luck by buying amulets, elves and even dresses for Santa Muerte. These are some of the esoteric rituals for the New Year.
At just 23 years old, merchant David Hernández understands well the business of “occult sciences, esotericism and Santeria”, a market that, he explains to EFE, currently attracts more young people than adults, especially at this time of year, when people “come completely moved by faith”.
Esoteric rituals for the New Year
To start #AñoNuevo2026 with hope and good energies, many families visit the emblematic Sonora Market in the @A_VCarranza, where rituals and amulets represent wishes for love, health and prosperity. ✨
I believe in the value of our traditions and in starting… pic.twitter.com/jABmQ0BX1H
– Julio César Moreno (@julioc_moreno) December 31, 2025
“We, as such, do not sell anything miraculous; it is 50 % the product we are selling and 50 % faith,” admits the young vendor of stores 50 and 51, where together with his aunt, Patricia, he offers the most requested amulets during this season, such as protection bracelets, seeds of abundance and candles to open roads.
Shoppers spend an average of 500 pesos (US$27.8) to perform their New Year’s rituals, which include Divine Providence candles -lit on the first day of each month-, resin pyramids and even ‘ritualized kits’ with soaps, lotions and herbal baths made to attract “abundance and prosperity”.
Nancy Márquez makes her purchase to capture “good luck” and claims to believe in God, but also in witches’ cleansing and amulets, symbols in which she has placed her faith since 2022, a year before the end of the health emergency due to the covid-19 pandemic was announced.
Márquez, 34, says that although she lost many loved ones during the pandemic, the tragedy also brought her closer to the world of amulets, which she uses every year-end.
“At 12 o’clock at night I light my candle and throw my lentil and sunflower seeds,” she says about this ritual in which she always asks for more health, work and security, as she maintains that the big problem in Mexico is insecurity.
Devotion in death and magic
Although many of these amulets are linked to the Catholic religion -of which 77.7% of the Mexican population is a believer-, there are others that have been rejected by the Church and, even so, continue to be used on these dates, such as Santa Muerte.
This popular deity has millions of parishioners around the world, and Mexico is one of its epicenters of veneration.
Elizabeth, one of his faithful, goes to the Sonora Market to fulfill her promise to buy her four Santa Muerte figures some dresses before the end of the year.
The 31-year-old confesses that she is devoted to ‘La Santa’, as she calls her, because she gave her back the will to live.
“I had a complication in my life and I wanted to die (…) And I told him that if he gave me another chance to live I would get it tattooed, and I got it tattooed,” she says excitedly, showing her arm with the image of the popular female deity.
Competition with Chinese products
One of the most experienced sellers of esoteric figures is Rocío Rivera, who has been in the business of elves, elves, trolls and witches for three decades, in local 63.
She assures that these figures are products that serve to welcome the New Year, since they protect the customer from “bad vibes”.
According to the merchant, in Mexico there is more and more interest in the magic of the feerical world, although she warns that the introduction of Asian figures, such as the horse -animal that corresponds to the New Year of the Chinese horoscope-, “damages” her sales.
In his opinion, there are increasingly “more sellers than buyers”, which has an impact on prices.
“Instead of going up we are going down like crabs,” he concludes, explaining that overproduction and the highly competitive market are forcing them to lower their prices.
Filed under: Esoteric rituals to welcome the New Year
With information from EFE
