Christmas: Gringo Christmas
Published in El Universal
(Mexico) on 11 December 2011
by Homero Bazán (link to original)
There is nothing like the month of December for witnessing the manifestation of malinchismo — Mexicans’ entrenched disdain for our own country and the aspirations of millions whose ideals rest on the European and Saxon models.
Traveling across the city, on every corner I find advertisements with images of Santa Claus, shop fronts with nativity scenes in the most pure English style and artificial snowmen which incessantly sing the monotonous tune of "Merry Christmas." Even elaborate scenes are ubiquitous, like the one in the mall of Avenida de Insurgentes and Felix Cuevas, where many people go to ice-skate, sporting all the clothes of a gringo Christmas, scarves, sweaters, hats — even though it is 3:00 p.m. and the heat of the day is hellish.
Afterward, I wonder if the cultural programming we have received from our Northern neighbors puts us somehow into a kind of collective hypnosis; after all, how many kids from the capital have seen snow? How many families know what it is to assemble a Jack Frost doll, then warm themselves by an open fire? These very things are impossible in our city.
The history of malinchismo in the Christmas period is in reality an old story in our metropolis. In 1925, a columnist and purist of language asserted that in this period, more than 30 percent of ads in public thoroughfares, in the main roads, included a term taken from a foreign language — a statistic which, in 2011, has reached the surprising and worrying figure of 78 percent.
According to specialists, “the foreign” has historically become a legitimate tool of any national cause. The publication of the president’s meetings with his North American equivalent have totaled eight columns since the mid 20th century, and with the arrival of statistics culture, our main vice has been to compare our advances, or backward traits, with those of other countries. “This shortcoming is grave, but no worse than that of France of England.”
After a thorough field study, researcher and sociologist Lourdes García concluded that over 84 percent of Mexican advertising contains foreign terms and that in four out of 10 sentences uttered by youths from the capital, there is an English word. And a curious statistic which comes up: García mentions that profits from creams to make the skin whiter have tripled in less than a decade and that blonde continues to be the hair dye in highest demand — as it has been for the last five decades.
And of course, these statistics of entrenched malinchismo which goes down to the bone marrow only become more pronounced in December, where the figures speak for themselves, according to the specialist’s study.
Ninety eight percent of children from the capital have never spent a Christmas in the snow; they have never even seen snow, nor do they know what it is to build a snowman. And of the 82 percent who listen to Christmas carols in English, they understand less than a third of the song.
An incredible 99 percent of Mexicans are unaware of the legend or cultural and historical antecedents behind Santa Claus — although 99.9 percent believe that the red and white clothing this legendary character is known to wear is part of the original tradition, unaware that it was designed by the soft drink manufacturer Coca Cola, to promote the colors of its brand in the mid 20th century.
Even more grim in a Latin country like ours, sales of dolls with blonde hair during the Christmas period are 90 percent higher than those with brown hair.
That is our Christmas, Gringo Christmas, which year after year places a mirror in front of the capital’s residents that demonstrates their desires; few people question whether these desires are personal or imposed. In reality, then, what are we celebrating?
Traveling across the city, on every corner I find advertisements with images of Santa Claus, shop fronts with nativity scenes in the most pure English style and artificial snowmen which incessantly sing the monotonous tune of "Merry Christmas." Even elaborate scenes are ubiquitous, like the one in the mall of Avenida de Insurgentes and Felix Cuevas, where many people go to ice-skate, sporting all the clothes of a gringo Christmas, scarves, sweaters, hats — even though it is 3:00 p.m. and the heat of the day is hellish.
Afterward, I wonder if the cultural programming we have received from our Northern neighbors puts us somehow into a kind of collective hypnosis; after all, how many kids from the capital have seen snow? How many families know what it is to assemble a Jack Frost doll, then warm themselves by an open fire? These very things are impossible in our city.
The history of malinchismo in the Christmas period is in reality an old story in our metropolis. In 1925, a columnist and purist of language asserted that in this period, more than 30 percent of ads in public thoroughfares, in the main roads, included a term taken from a foreign language — a statistic which, in 2011, has reached the surprising and worrying figure of 78 percent.
According to specialists, “the foreign” has historically become a legitimate tool of any national cause. The publication of the president’s meetings with his North American equivalent have totaled eight columns since the mid 20th century, and with the arrival of statistics culture, our main vice has been to compare our advances, or backward traits, with those of other countries. “This shortcoming is grave, but no worse than that of France of England.”
After a thorough field study, researcher and sociologist Lourdes García concluded that over 84 percent of Mexican advertising contains foreign terms and that in four out of 10 sentences uttered by youths from the capital, there is an English word. And a curious statistic which comes up: García mentions that profits from creams to make the skin whiter have tripled in less than a decade and that blonde continues to be the hair dye in highest demand — as it has been for the last five decades.
And of course, these statistics of entrenched malinchismo which goes down to the bone marrow only become more pronounced in December, where the figures speak for themselves, according to the specialist’s study.
Ninety eight percent of children from the capital have never spent a Christmas in the snow; they have never even seen snow, nor do they know what it is to build a snowman. And of the 82 percent who listen to Christmas carols in English, they understand less than a third of the song.
An incredible 99 percent of Mexicans are unaware of the legend or cultural and historical antecedents behind Santa Claus — although 99.9 percent believe that the red and white clothing this legendary character is known to wear is part of the original tradition, unaware that it was designed by the soft drink manufacturer Coca Cola, to promote the colors of its brand in the mid 20th century.
Even more grim in a Latin country like ours, sales of dolls with blonde hair during the Christmas period are 90 percent higher than those with brown hair.
That is our Christmas, Gringo Christmas, which year after year places a mirror in front of the capital’s residents that demonstrates their desires; few people question whether these desires are personal or imposed. In reality, then, what are we celebrating?