Sobre mi cadaver's "candy bowl"

So, yeah, Halloween is coming but I never do the "candy bowl" thing because I have my favorite Mexican tradition to celebrate on November 2nd: Día de los muertos.

So, this blog is to pick up your calaverita de azucar (sugar skull), pan de muerto (death bread), ask me to erect your own altar de muerto, pick up some flores de cempasúchil (cempasuchil flowers), or ask me to create you a calaverita literaria (it's a poem in which I pretty much either kill you and talk about your death or I kill someone else too, or even talk about someone who is already dead).

So, here's how it goes:

1. Altar de muerto: You get a review (not a comment, an actual review) on one of your stories (if it is chaptered, no more than 5 chapters, please), a recommendation of the same story or another one, a subscription to the same story or another one, and a recommendation of an author of your choosing (it can be you, too). ONLY 3 AVAILABLE.

2. Calaverita de azucar: A comment (not a review) on a one-shot of your choosing. ONLY 5 AVAILABLE.

3. Pan de muerto: A subscription or recommendation of a story or recommendation of an author. ONLY 10 AVAILABLE.

4. Flores de cempasúchil: A recommendation blog in which I either recommend you as an author or recommend a story of yours. ONLY 5 AVAILABLE.

5. Calaverita literaria: A one-shot/poem written by me about the death of a person of your choosing. You can specify how you want to kill them and I can work around that. ONLY 3 AVAILABLE.

So, this is my "candy bowl". Go crazy.

I'm also taking advantage of this blog to say a couple of words about Halloween and Día de los muertos.

If you are celebrating Halloween and plan on dressing up as a sugar skull or as death as portrayed in the Mexican culture, please, I ask you the kindest way I can, don't.

My culture is not your costume. Sugar skulls and death as portrayed in my culture, La Catrina, is a tradition of the Mexican culture which is also celebrated in various forms by other Latin-American cultures and it is very offensive to see people dressed up as like that on Halloween. It is not a costume; it is a cultural tradition.

Día de los muertos is a tradition that developed about 2,500 years ago through indigenous rituals that celebrate death and pays respect to loved ones who have passed away. The Aztecs held a whole month of this traditional celebration which they dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl, the ruler of the afterlife.

After Spanish colonization and many attempts to eradicate the rituals & festival, a new merging with the Catholic holidays All Souls Day & All Saints Day developed over time to what is now Dia De Los Muertos.

Dia De Los Muertos is not Halloween. It is a sacred time and holiday for Latin@s everywhere.

If you are interested in learning more about this tradition, I'll gladly answer your questions. It's perfect and gorgeous to learn about other cultures and traditions, but appropriating it and stripping it from its meaning to create a "costume" is not okay.