Is It Wrong to Wear Day of the Dead Face Painting if You’re Not Mexican?
How To Avoid “Deadface” This Season
Día de Muertos, or The Day of the Dead, is a celebration, between October 31st and November 2nd, of our human connection to our ancestors. In Mexico, it is also a national holiday. Because the festivities find their roots in Aztec and Mayan beliefs about the afterlife, some have thought that only Mexicans can celebrate it.
Is that right? If people of non-Mexican heritage dress up, paint their faces and so on, are they participating in “dead face?” That is to say, a cultural misappropriation or act of discrimination akin to “blackface?”
The answer is not necessarily, but maybe. As one, of many, Mexican users of Reddit responded:
Instead of being offensive it’s rather flattering to see that people from other countries are interested in our culture. I guess the only important thing is to always be respectful and use the golden rule: treat others the way you’d like to be treated.
This view is shared, as far as I can tell, nearly universally by Mexicans. So if you want to paint your face, dress up, make a little shrine to your ancestors, and give them ofrendas, then go for it. Just do it in a respectful and earnest way.
