Is Sugar Skull Makeup Cultural Appropriation

This Is What You Need to Know Before Doing Sugar Skull Makeup on Halloween

There is a fine line between appropriation and appreciation.

Día de los Muertos, aka Twenty-four hours of the Dead, is a two-day Mexican vacation that honors families' deceased ancestors through various traditions. Typically, family members will set up an altar with photos of those departed withofrendas (offerings), which are gifts for those who passed. "Nosotros put up an altar with the pictures of our loved ones that passed abroad, and add a few of their favorite things like baked goods, their favorite drinks or treats, and marigold flowers," says Yasmin Maya, founder of Birdy Lashes and Beauty. "We'll normally come together in prayer, eatpan de muerto, and that same night we'll lite candles to help guide our loved 1's souls for their visit."

In improver to theofrendas, people throughout the cities of Mexico will paint their faces in saccharide skull makeup and wearing apparel up in colorful dresses with floral prints and designs during the parades. Between the dressing up, painting of faces, and proximity to America'south Halloween date, many people from other countries refer to Día de los Muertos equally the "Mexican Halloween" and accept adopted sugar skull makeup as a pop Halloween costume.

Even so, the vacation represents the furthest affair from Halloween. The sugar skull makeup worn on Día de los Muertos is a fourth dimension-honored symbol that represents and celebrates those who have passed. Unlike Halloween, which is a holiday to dress up in scary costumes, Día de los Muertos is a colorful celebration to accolade your deceased loved ones. It'south these critical differences that make u.s.a. question whether doing carbohydrate skull makeup for Halloween is appropriate or problematic. To answer that, information technology's important to larn the history of skull makeup and the culture that started information technology all.

What is sugar skull makeup?

Saccharide skull makeup comes from a famous drawing known as La Catrina. La Catrina is a female skeleton wearing a fancy feathered lid, similar to the one that wealthy Europeans wore in the 1900s—it was created by political cartoonist and creative person José Guadalupe Posada. Posada originally drew La Catrina as a satirical bulletin that said no thing your race, grade, or background, we're all going to die someday. Since the cosmos of the drawing, La Catrina has become i of the most recognizable symbols of Día de los Muertos.

As previously mentioned, many people dress upwardly in colorful gowns and do skull makeup during the vacation as a nod to the famous drawing and to celebrate deceased ancestors. Regina Merson, the founder of Reina Rebelde, says she looks forwards to doing her Catrina makeup every yr. "I notice the ritual of constructing my Día de los Muertos altar to be very therapeutic albeit a scrap sad, so I love balancing that ritual with the ritual of my Catrina makeup, which is part of the more celebratory aspect of the holiday."

In that location's been growing popularity and knowledge of these traditions, especially after the release of the animated moving-picture showCoco, which came out in 2017. With that popularity, sugar skull makeup has become a "trending" Halloween costume created by those who aren't Mexican. One search of #sugarskullmakeup on Instagram will garner hundreds of thousands of results, and the makeup video tutorials on YouTube are endless. But, is doing sugar skull makeup on Halloween watering down the importance and significance of the makeup and vacation?

la-catrina

Credit: The Grace Museum, Jose Guadalupe Posada

Is sugar skull makeup cultural cribbing?

It doesn't take to exist, just the answer will differ depending on who yous ask. Both Merson and Maya ultimately experience that recreating skull makeup doesn't demand to exist strictly for Mexican people, merely both concur that at that place is a fine line between appropriation and appreciation.

"One of the almost offensive things is when people paint a Catrina and make the look intersect with something scary and bloody," says Merson. "Call up, La Catrina represents your dead relative, not a scary Halloween character." She explains that intention is key when doing this makeup. "Everyone tin can relate to the experience of losing someone and trying to connect with them in the afterlife, and then equally long as people accept the fourth dimension to understand its rituals and meaning, I call back it'south great for anyone to participate."

Maya feels similarly, saying it didn't commencement to rub her the wrong way until she realized people were forgetting or failing to mention why sugar skull makeup is washed in the first identify. "To me, information technology seemed similar information technology wasn't being respected or honored the way it should be," she says. She noticed people weren't giving credit to the holiday or using information technology to their advantage for monetary purposes. "I retrieve anyone can do sugar skull makeup, but they must honor the holiday and understand the meaning behind it," she says.

Should y'all exercise saccharide skull makeup for Halloween?

If you're thinking of doing this makeup on Halloween this twelvemonth, make sure you're fully knowledgeable about the origins of the ritual. "I always love the idea of people from all cultures participating in this ritual as long as its history is understood and the procedure is respected," says Merson. Another appropriate mode to exercise this makeup look is if you're using it as an opportunity to brainwash others nigh the history of saccharide skulls and Día de los Muertos, says Maya.

Ultimately, to do saccharide skull makeup respectfully takes true understanding and appreciation of the holiday and culture. Merson says, "the sugar skull is meant to be the physical representation of the man world connecting with the spiritual world, so you want to give it the intendance, beloved, and attention considering it represents the souls of our loved ones."