Dress up for the party as a ...

[carnation]

Originally Posted by naraht

Just some thoughts that went by while driving on the subject of theme parties where dressing up as a specific group might be proposed.

4) A specific nationality/ethnic group: Generally OK if there haven't been any for at least 400 years like Vikings, Romans, Aztecs and bad if they are still around like French, German and Korean, but a few exceptions.

Mayans: Yes there are still Mayans, but if you can pull of a dress as a Mayan for the December 2012 party, that's impressive.Comments?

One of my daughters is Maya and looks classically so. I think she'd be embarrassed by such a party.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by carnation

One of my daughters is Maya and looks classically so. I think she'd be embarrassed by such a party.

My husband is also indigenous Mexican (Zapotec), and I've met full blood Aztecs and Incans. They haven't been gone for 400 years, naraht. Also, they might not throw Christians to the lions, but I'm pretty sure you could find a Roman or two. As to whether he would be insulted or embarrassed...I think his exact words would be something along the lines of "Gringos pendejos".

People - JUST SAY NO.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

"Gringos pendejos".

Now that's a theme!

[carnation]

Temo que los gringos no les gusten el tema.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by carnation

One of my daughters is Maya and looks classically so. I think she'd be embarrassed by such a party.

Perhaps, but given that the average college student (as well as average American) would have *no* idea what a Maya would wear, They'd have to increase their knowledge *about* the Maya to even get it insultingly wrong. Think of trying to have a group of Europeans dress up as Chinese prior to Marco Polo.

[carnation]

Oh, I know, it's just that if she heard the name of the party and that she was supposed to dress Maya, it would weird her out. We have a ton of Guatemalans here and some still dress in the Central Native American style with the long woven skirts and carry baskets of laundry on their heads on the way to the laundromat. She knows that she looks more like these Guatemalans than she does the more westernized ones (ladinos) and knows that she and they are Maya.

They also speak among themselves in Maya dialects that are nothing like Spanish, so she doesn't understand them when she overhears them or when they try to speak to her because they think she's one of the gang. So, if someone said, "We're having a Dress like a Maya, End of the World party!", she'd bid you hasta la vista.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by carnation

Oh, I know, it's just that if she heard the name of the party and that she was supposed to dress Maya, it would weird her out. We have a ton of Guatemalans here and some still dress in the Central Native American style with the long woven skirts and carry baskets of laundry on their heads on the way to the laundromat. She knows that she looks more like these Guatemalans than she does the more westernized ones (ladinos) and knows that she and they are Maya.

They also speak among themselves in Maya dialects that are nothing like Spanish, so she doesn't understand them when she overhears them or when they try to speak to her because they think she's one of the gang. So, if someone said, "We're having a Dress like a Maya, End of the World party!", she'd bid you hasta la vista.

I actually was in a somewhat similar situation (I'm Jewish) while I went to High School in China. In most of East Asia they'll still manage to combine some of the most negative *and* most positive stereotypical characteristics of Jews into one stereotype. It's why the Japanese tried to take some of the Jews off the hands of Hitler, they wanted to settle them in Manchuria to take the place of the Chinese that they'd killed.