So yesterday was obviously Halloween in the US (I feel that I have to clarify "in the US" because I only recently learned that other countries celebrate Halloween, or the cultural equivalent, at different time of the year. Brazil celebrates in June, who knew!?!) Now even though I love Halloween and threw a Halloween party last year where I dressed up as Carmen Sandiego (yes, I did!), this year I'd made absolutely NO plans for Halloween. I mean I figured I would probably end up watching a Halloween movie or something, but I live in a secured building with only a few kids, I wouldn't be having Trick-or-Treaters. One thing I had decided to do was take Skipper (Mercedes's pup dog who I claim aunt privileges over) to the dog park because yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day in Salt Lake.
Skipper aka the Skip Meister
Beautiful Halloween Day in Salt Lake City!!
When I went to pick Skip up, Mercedes allowed that I should just hang out with her because she was expecting to have a number of Trick-or-Treaters and that I wouldn't need to run home and figure out a costume because she was sure she had something I could wear.
Me as an Indian Princess
Turns out Mercedes had a sari I could wear. Now, I know Indian culture has gone "mainstream," if you will, over the last five to ten years or so. I remember watching Bend it Like Beckham and loving the movie not just for the overall storyline but also for the glimpse into a culture I had very little direct exposure to personally. I loved the women's outfits and the tradition and meaning behind the henna, it all fascinated me. Then came Bride & Prejudice (a Bollywood style take on a Jane Austen classic) and then Bollywood became a featured dance style on So You Think You Can Dance through the work of choreographer, Nakul Dev Mahajan. (For your viewing pleasure, I've added the first Bollywood routine to appear on the SYTYCD stage, you're welcome!)
But even with this cultural fascination, I had never attempted to wear a sari. Probably a good thing since it took Mercedes and me twenty minutes to get me in it the first time and I had to redo the top part I don't know how many times!! Saris are typically one long piece of fabric (I mean like 8 or 9 YARDS of fabric) that is strategically wrapped and tucked to both cover and accentuate the feminine form. I have a newfound respect for the women who wear a sari everyday! I'm sure with practice it comes easy and every woman develops their own little tricks to wearing the sari how they want and keeping it in place...but WOW!! Trust me, it's a lot harder than it looks!
With a Bindi and a few hand jewels, my outfit was complete!
Since I was going cultural, Mercedes decided that instead of wearing her Velma dress, she would wear her Nigerian outfit. At the recent conference in Kenya, there was a Nigerian delegation from the Ministry of Tourism. I had helped them get their registrations set up and organized letters for their visas and after those interactions, I was disappointed to not get to meet them. But Mercedes met them and loved them. They gave her a traditional Nigerian outfit, complete with head wrap and sent me a beautiful wrap back to the US with Mercedes. Now during the conference, Mercedes had been unable to properly wear the head wrap and had been unable to connect with Grace to get the proper tutorial. So last night, Mercedes and I watched tutorial videos and spent 30 minutes (maybe more like 40 minutes) trying to figure out how to properly tie and wrap the head wrap.
Now, you may be like me and not realize that for Nigerian women, the head wrap is an art form! It's absolutely unbelievable what they are able to do! (Seriously, Google Nigerian Head Wraps and just take a look) When you watch the video tutorials, they made it look so easy, but again it's not as easy as it looks!
While we were getting ready, I kept thinking about this article someone had posted on Facebook in the last week or so, talking about how many times Halloween costumes make fun of another culture. A student group at Ohio University started a campaign called "We're a Culture, not a costume." And I wondered if our outfits would be considered insulting to the cultures we were trying to represent. I wondered if the intent behind our actions would change how two white girls dressing as an Indian and a Nigerian would appear to outsiders. We didn't go out and buy a kitschy Halloween representations of a cultural costume. Mercedes had an actual sari for me to wear. And her Nigerian outfit was presented to her as a gift from a Nigerian woman. When else in the United States, other than at Halloween, would people not give either of us weird looks for wearing those outfits around town? Plus Mercedes and I have too much respect for other cultures, as people who love to travel and explore cultures outside our own, to ever purposefully make fun of another culture. If anything, I would say our Halloween adventures created an even greater understanding and appreciation for the two cultures we tried to represent.
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