it’s that time of year…. let this serve as your official reminder that dia de los muertos is not an extension of halloween. it’s a very important holiday meant to celebrate and honor the loved ones that are no longer with us. it’s not there for you to probe and pick from for your spooky gothic aesthetic. participate by sharing stories of your loved ones, cleaning off/sprucing up their headstones, and/or placing marigolds in your home so their spirits can find you - not by wearing our culture as a costume. keep their memory alive but keep the appropriation of dia de los muertos at bay !
I've actually spent the past two weeks in an elementary Spanish class explaining this to children. I made over 120 blank sugar skulls for the older kids to decorate and made some cool coloring pages for the younger kids to color. The teacher of this class and a good friend of mine explained that Dia de los Muertos is often translated and not interpreted. The translation is 'Day of the Dead' but a good interpretation of the holiday would be 'A Day of Remembrance'. This isn't Halloween. It is not supposed to be Halloween. It's not meant to be spooky or gothic or anything. It can be sad to remember your loved ones, sure, but Dia de los Muertos is meant to be a happy time. Let's not try to ruin it and Americanize it like we've done with so many other things.
