So, for a bit of fun blood-pressure racing, I googled “sugar skull makeup is not a joke,” mostly hoping to find articles about the appropriation of this sacred practice.

Instead, I found a load of videos teaching people how to paint their face like a sugar skull.

Specifically, of non-Latin@s teaching people how to paint their faces.

I’m not going to go on for a long time about it. It’s problematic because

Dia de los Muertos is not Halloween

Dia de los Muertos is a very sacred holiday

Sugar skull makeup is not a game or a funtimez costume

Most of these people clearly know nothing/very little about the special holiday, or their facts are straight up incorrect.

Sugar skull makeup is beautiful, I understand it. But it’s not something for people to co-opt when it suits them.

What I’d like to do is distribute this post and get people to call out, in the comments, the inappropriateness of these videos. I want these video-makers to understand that what they’re doing is inappropriate, and why.

I’m not going to tell you to be nice - I hate it when people do that. But be practical. Avoid ad-hominem and personal attacks because they will use it as an excuse not to listen to you, avoid all caps and such because they’ll just hold their hands over their ears and say “lalala you got mad I don’t have to listen”. Provide references for why it’s inappropriate, such as but not limited to:

Let these people know what they’re doing is inappropriate. Please reblog, even if you yourself don’t comment.