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20/mx as in mexicanlicious

Hi I'm Lizzie This blog is my stash used mainly to post fanart, reblog stuff and analyze Adventure Time as well other series I like.

45-colt:

the-snowflake-owl:

45-colt:

rydenarmani:

nadiezda:

I’ve seen some posts making this guilt trip of how the people who like to dress up as a sugar skull or the Catrina for halloween or whatever is racist and cultural appropriation.

Nah, it’s completely fine, as long as you are not totally ignorant about it or disrespectful, we Mexicans also celebrate Halloween, we break the piñata (which origin is chinese) And celebrate thanksgiving.

So it’s kinda hypocrate to say it’s cultural appropriation (which is not either way) cultures are beautiful and should/could be shared, there are indeed some aspects that can be racist and or appropriating, however dressing up as a sugar skull on Halloween is not in any way offensive.

It’s not like the sugar skull represents us, represents the deceased, and actually it’s just a joyful way to represent them. And the Catrina is just a social critic which became an icon later on for the day of the dead and Mexico. 

Be open minded, don’t even hate, and share this rich culture we have with the rest of humanity, chill.

i don’t know how i feel about this

This post did nothing to explain the significance of Día de los Muertos nor did it actually say ~why~ it’s okay to wear sugar skull makeup as a costume when you’re non-latinx. Just because one Mexican with a blog says it’s okay does NOT mean that you undoubtedly have the right to pull this. Individual people and individual actions do not make or break oppression- oppression is a system. Cultural appropriation is a part of its machinery.

If you’re non-latinx and want to set up an altar and honor your dead and actually ~participate~ in the celebration for some reason, sure. That could be okay. But there is nothing respectful about wearing sugar skull garb as a Halloween costume. There is nothing respectful about wearing sugar skull makeup outside the context of the celebration of Día de los Muertos because it is a symbol of this very important and sacred holiday in Latinx culture. No, culture is not meant to be shared (culture is an identifier to a particular community) and you do not get to pick the “pretty” pieces of my culture to wear just because you feel like it, especially when you don’t even understand the significance and history- which, most people who try to excuse their shitty appropriation don’t.

Educate yourselves. Stop placing yourselves in spaces that aren’t your’s and more importantly stop taking things out of their appropriate spaces for your pleasure and stay the hell in your lane.

I’m another Mexican with a blog and I agree with the original post. 

And besides, Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday, so following your logic, non-Mexicans aren’t allowed to touch it, and that would include the non-Mexican latinos. So no, Dia de los Muertos is not Latinx culture, its Mexican culture. According to you, I should tell you and others to stay off my space. 

Its not so cool anymore, is it. 

Día de los Muertos is originally Mexican but has become a facet of other Latinx peoples’ lives including Guatemaltecos, the other side of my family, who’ve celebrated the holiday for generations the same as the Mexican side of my family. I say Latinx instead of Mexican for that reason and also because of the fact that many people who come from families that observe Día de los Muertos have other latinx heritage, and I felt its important to include all sides of their identity.

I don’t know about you, but I have lost a lot of family (in particular thanks to United States imperialism in Central America) and much of the identity of my family who immigrated to the U.S has been erased. My family severed important ties to our culture for fear of our safety and in an effort to assimilate. Día de los Muertos is extremely important to me, not just an excuse to go party with sugar skull makeup on, and I’ll be damned if another part of my identity is stolen by non-latinx, especially white folk.

Being latinx doesn’t make your support of cultural appropriation any less harmful, just like a woman who participates in sexist behavior can’t be separated from her internalized misogyny.

I’m not against people celebrating Día de los Muertos in a respectful way, but Halloween is not Día de los Muertos. Wearing sugar skull makeup and trick-or-treating =/= going to a Día de los Muertos festival, setting up an altar, remembering your lost loved ones. And Halloween isn’t a “sacred” American celebration, it’s a commercial holiday that originated from a harvest festival. It does not share the same level of deep significance and cultural tradition.

Basing it in your logic, your ancestors and you technically stole my culture by celebrating and claiming a holiday that does not belong to them. Your ancestors did what you call cultural appropiation.

You are claiming my holiday is YOURS and its not. I’m open to share the holiday, my Purepecha abuelita is open to share it, but do not claim it as yours when its not.

Now, outside your logic. What your non-mexican ancestors do is part of cultural evolution, which happens over time by sharing traditions and celebrations. 

Holidays change, life changes. You are deliberately stopping evolution. Some day, Dia de los Muertos won’t have the same significance, in the same vein that Christmas doesn’t mean what it used to mean. Change is inevitable. 

Dia de los Muertos in itself is result of the merging of two cultures, the merging of Mexican native culture and Spaniard culture. You are segregating and preventing change and progress. 

If I was supposed to protect the holiday the way you insist I must. I’d tell you to get off my lane and stay away from my Mexican holiday. Because that’s what I’m hearing. 

Now as for the face paint. Its based on La Catrina, she is a joke, she is a satire, a cartoon, her face was integrated into the theme of the festivity because they thought she fit the aesthethic. 

Dia de los Muertos is a day to celebrate the passing of souls to the afterlife. This is distinctly a Aztec belief. The original festivity was a celebration to worship the Aztec godess of the underworld. Then mixing happened and the result is the modern incarnation of Dia de los Muertos. 

Now now, your people didn’t need to borrow Dia de los Muertos from Mexico. All Saints day or Hallowtide, the catholic celebration of the dead, could be an alternate option, because as I recall, Guatemala is also a Catholic country. 

But the cultural exchange is good, its beautiful, its fresh, its part of the human civilization’s evolution. 

The meaning of the face paint for Dia de los Muertos is to remember the dead, also to overcome the fear of death and celebrate life. I think you can wear it as part of a costume if its tasteful. Its art. I think it can be done with respect, with understanding of what it is. 

Now if you decided to be a ”slutty” catrina with face paint, I would consider that to be highly offensive. 

And on final note, please don’t call Dia de los Muertos a latinx holiday. Its Mexican and it originated from Mexico. You can definitely celebrate, but understand what it is, where it came from, but don’t claim it as your own. 

Its like, you’re invited to the party, with everyone else, but it doesn’t mean you own the house. Just respect the rules. Alright? 

tags » cultural appropiation · mexico ·