Writing POC 101

Mexican Characters - @sprawls

The thing about Mexican people is that we, like many other races, get a shit ton of stereotypes. We like to wear colorful ponchos and eat tacos all day while we chill with our homie Jose or Juan or Pancho. We wear sombreros and down shots of tequila for breakfast and play in a mariachi and say "Ay Dios mio" whenever something bad happens to us. We have 20 siblings who either become gangsters or pregnant by the time they're 16 and the reason our country is so terrible is because all Mexicans are lazy.

Honestly, what the hell you guys?

I was born in the US, but raised in both Mexico and America. I live in a town that's right on the border and ever since I could remember I've spent most of my life crossing from one country to the other. My town is basically a mixture of both races and everyone here speaks both languages. My school is filled with people that come from pure Mexican blood and the only reason they ever cross is to get drunk or eat the food. I am a bilingual piece of mierda and I freaking love that.

But you see, some people don't understand any of this. If you're going to write a Mexican character, get your shit straight.

RELIGION

I'll start off easy. Mexico is a pretty religious country. We're all basically either Catholic or Christian. It's rare whenever we meet someone that believes in a different God and even more strange whenever we meet someone that doesn't believe in any God what-so-ever. We're enrolled into catechism when we're about 5 years old, and finish the fourth sacrament before we finish high school. We have a sort of shrine (not really shrine but like, a special place in our house) that has to have pictures or crosses and a place dedicated to God, basically. Our grandparents house is even more littered with everything holy and most of my aunts and uncles have dedicated most of their time to helping out the church. Religion is a huge part of the Mexican culture.

NAMES

If you named or have ever named any of your Mexican characters Juan, Jose, Jesus, Pancho etc, shame on you (I'm looking at you E.L James). Literally no one here is named like that. I know maybe four or five of each. And not all of our last names are these really weird pronunciations with accents on top of every letter. We have sharp Z's and rolled R's and double Ll's that make a Y sound. Examples would be like Rivas, Valdez, Padilla, Robles, Fuentes, Valencia. Also, most of us have middle names or two names that go together like Maria Paula Blah Blah or Anna Cristina Blah Blah. But if your character does have a name like that, then they won't have a middle name. And don't try to go the extra mile by giving me any of that Esteban Julio Ricardo de la Rosa Ramirez stereotypical bullshit.

DATING

I just felt like I needed to put this in (not a sex joke I s2g) but Mexican parents are kinda really strict about the whole virginity thing. Honestly, you could go out with your friends every weekend getting drunk and smoking weed, but as long as you don't have sex, you're okay. I guess that's where the whole 'being a parent at 16' stereotype comes from; because a lot of kids have parents who tell them over and over again that they can't have sex that most kids end up rebelling and maybe sometimes end up getting pregnant. Like my mom had my oldest sister when she was around 22 (she had been dating my dad for about two years, almost three) and when she told my grandparents she was pregnant, it was absolute hell for her. They screamed at her and kind of pressured her to get married (bc a lot of people think you should wait until then and even though no one really says 'wait until marriage' it's just a known fact you grow up knowing) And yeah.

SEXUALITY

The thing about Mexicans is that we're really hard on the whole 'man and woman' thing. It's freaking rare whenever someone at my school comes out and when they do everyone knows about it. There's probably only like five gay kids at my school that have come out and even more that are probably still hiding. It's really hard bc Mexicans are really homophobic and really religious so...

HOLIDAYS

One thing I should probably mention: holidays (or festivities of sorts). One big event Mexico has is El Grito. It's the night (Sept. 15) before Mexican Independence day (Sept. 16) where everyone gathers around with Mexican flags and churros and cotton candy and theres this guy with a mic that says "everyone ready!?" or something like that and on the count of three, everyone screams "VIVA MEXICO, VIVA, VIVA" like 20 times over and over again. It's the story of how Mexico got its independence and honestly I would explain it but google's also a thing so.
Another celebration is Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead. This is my favorite one because my family and I get to cross to Mexico for the whole day and visit my relatives who have passed and we get to leave them food and their favorite things. There's people selling candy skulls and people with face paint and it's just so fun and nice.
There's also Cinco de Mayo which is the celebration of the Mexican victory over the French and it's pretty cool as well bc my Spanish teacher always hosts this thing at the gym where all of his students get in groups and he gives them all a Mexican cuisines and we have to make it and parents come to eat and the schools Mariache plays and it's so nice and festive.
OH! Also, there's this thing that's sticking out in my brain called La Rosca de Reyes (King's Day) which, tell you the truth, I don't really know what it is. Like all I know is that we get this giant OVAL (google says round but it's actually oval) piece of like sweet bread with these green and red toppings and we cut it up and serve it with chocolate milk (or champurro) and inside the bread there's three little white, like, Jesus baby figurines and whoever gets the baby has to host a party at their house.

FOOD

Speaking of food, tacos are amazing yes, but that's not all we eat around here. We eat pozole and elotes and menudo. My favorite is gorditas with frijoles and lettuce on top. My mom makes a mean sopa de tortilla and some amazing tacos dorados. I live for arroz con leche and pastel de tres leches (I hate milk but I love these). Whenever my family and I cross to Mexico, we always either get sushi or visit my family for their amazing pastel azteca. Don't just make your character eat the same thing over and over again, get creative. Honestly, google is a great place to find out the food bc we love to eat everything and anything so, really, there's no specific cuisine we stick to.

MUSIC

I just felt like I needed to include this one but DADDY YANKE IS GARBAGE LITERALLY NO ONE LISTENS TO THAT. Gasolina is a terrible song (my friends and I were having a Mexican song tbt at lunch like a week ago and I jokingly played it and they made me sit outside for like ten minutes everyone hates it). Don't say something like "M/C got out of bed and plugged her phone in her speakers. She heard Daddy Yankee blare out and smiled. She had such good taste in music" No. Just... no. If you want your character to listen to something like, idk Taylor Swift, look up a band called Camila on youtube and go from there. If you want Spanish trap (that's literally what my brother calls it) look up J Balvin and Don Omar.

EXTRAS

"Ay Dios Mio" is a stupid saying that literally no teenager says. Only grandmas and old people say it so stop making your Mexican character swear it whenever they stub their toe or run late for school. We say verga (vete a la verga), pinchi (pinche), puto, puta, a la madre,etc etc.

This probably isn't relevant, but most, if not all, Mexican girls have their ears pierced when they're like two years old. Also, this may not help at all but to me it's really interesting, but when my mom was like five, my grandma gave her this gold bracelet and fused it shut so she couldn't take it off and it was literally on her wrists for like 30 years. My mom eventually cut it off and gave it to me and my sisters and now we fight over it bc I find it so cool and what not.

I really hope this helps you guys and opens your eyes to some new things (even though I may have missed some cool stuff and maybe gotten some wrong). And also since most of this was kind of me ranting about my life here I still hope you learned some helpful tips about Mexican people and our culture.
Also don't be afraid to shoot me a pm or a message if you have any questions about anything else.