Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, has become very popular in the United States because it falls right after Halloween, and Americans have taken the spiritual, religious holiday and blended it in with the ghosts and ghouls common to American Halloween.

I'm sure there is something to be said about 'cultural appropriation' and Americans not really understanding what Dia de los Muertos is all about, but I figure it's along the same lines as St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo becoming bar holidays. Do we really honor St. Patrick when we drink green beer? Is getting blind drunk during a 'Drinko de Mayo' bar crawl really the way to learn about the Battle of Puebla?

No, I think we can all agree that putting more money into beer manufacturers pockets isn't the intent of either of those days, but because it draws attention to the history of the days, it actually does serve to provide some level of education to the beer drinking American public.

To that end, a makeup tutorial about sugar skulls, or calaveras, a major part of the Dia de los Muertos observance, might seem like more cultural appropriation, but it really is a good way to tell the story of what calaveras are and what they represent in the Mexican Catholic culture.

This is a fun tutorial, and it is super cool looking makeup, but take the time to read the links to discover the history of Dia de los Muertos, because, you know, education.

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