??

Just a common thing this time around, even those around me don’t realize why it’s problematic. I’ve had this rant in my head for a while, so I just borrowed my own words from the journal I’d wrote covering the issues that surround blurring Halloween with Day of the Dead. This isn’t aimed at anyone specifically, but rather, at the whole crowd of persons who may make the mistake of doing this today. It will give them some inside information so they have a chance to think twice, and if they still go through with it, it is a conscious decision that does not cease to be problematic. 

These past few years, Day of the Dead has been turned into the extension of Halloween by rich and white folks alike. The common symbol people associate our culture to is the sugar skull. As someone who grew up in Latin@ culture, dressing up for a day like this is a big deal. It’s usually the performance position of the event. You are embodying that figure.

Let me point this out.

This “holiday” is NOT to celebrate “the dead” or “death.” It is a day to celebrate the memories of relatives, family, friends, and anyone who’s inspired you and has passed away into another life. It is a memento bringing attention to their most admirable aspects. It’s a very internal and personal event that is turned beautiful when a large community of individuals actually UNDERSTAND this intimate connection we have with the afterlife, and those we’d lost. It is a chance to celebrate those memories, and give them a physical form. Again, even as a costume, it’s not a statement of fashion or this tangent from Halloween.

People take the “skull” and “death” aspect, and add spiders, gothic clothing….I’ve seen more and more connections to Halloween than I can stomach. It’s been white-washed into an excuse to dress up and party, and feel like you’re participating in this culture you know nothing about, but aren’t willing to research. (At least not enough to actually dress and represent the event appropriately.)
This lack of culture appropriation results in a failed attempt to connection and assumptions that Americans make with different cultures, embodying the white-washed exoticized versions of non-white cultures.

This isn’t too far from ignoring Thanksgiving (which is right around the corner) as originally promoting colonialism. White-washing foreign cultures is still a form of social violence connected to that same mentality. And to think someone of this culture is taking things too personally, being “offended,” and such is like telling those of us that are Latin@ that we don’t understand our own culture, and we should be grateful that people are at least taking some interest in our festivities rather than those god-awful stereotypes that go around for Halloween as well. (And yes, I’ve been told things like this e_e ) Let’s just say that those who read this critique as some personal attack is just domineering, not to mention obnoxious in the sense of not bothering to own up to their actions.