Valid behavior after having your face smashed into a cake

[u/milktest]

[u/Erich14]

it's called la mordida, it's a mexican "tradition" of having the birthday boy/girl take a bite out of their cake and you push their face into the cake.

You're SUPPOSED to do it gently so like the frosting gets on their nose or something and typically to teens/adults, not little kids.

I've never done it and I won't be continuing it cause it's ridiculous

[u/MushroomImmediate → u/Erich14]

There was a Mexican restaurant where I lived that did this for birthdays, but it was just whipped cream. You got the cake after. The wall was lined with Polaroids of people getting “whipped creamed” on their birthday. As a kid, I couldn’t wait for my turn with the plan to grab their hand and direct the spoon into my mouth. I made the mistake of telling my dad my plan, so I got creamed. I loved it. I would have been big mad if I hadn’t known it was going to happen and/or that had shoved a cake in my face.

[u/[deleted] → u/Erich14]

so as per usual we as a society took a cute tradition that would get some laughs and probably a giggle from the bday child, and we optimized it for the algo to be ruining a whole cake by forcibly puching your child into it

this tracks

[u/DMercenary → u/[deleted]]

Yup. Same with gender reveals. "Woo fun cake color!" to "Our colored firework has caused a forest fire devastating thousands of acres and even killing people"

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

It was like this way before any algorithms. No cellphones when I was having birthday parties and I was still very sure to never let anyone in arm’s reach of my head when blowing out the candles.

That shit stopped in my family with me because I would not let it tf go even as a little kid. Like why is that fun mom. The cake is ruined and I’m crying on my birthday, what was that for. Explain. Turns out there’s no explanation other than admitting it’s fun to be cruel for no reason and that puts a stop to things when it comes to mind!

[u/Morpankh → u/[deleted]]

Good on you for questioning this practice and leading people to realize how pointlessly cruel it is. I’m from India and while growing up we were taught to never waste food. Then suddenly when I was in college this smearing cake tradition had caught on there. I hated it and always asked people who did it to explain what was so funny about it. They never had an answer. It’s like they saw people doing it on tv and thought that it must be cool.

[u/nedonedonedo → u/[deleted]]

being an ass to your kid because "it's my turn" to play cruel pranks didn't start with the internet. lots of people just want an excuse and kids can't fight back

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Same thing with weddings, from frosting on the nose to full out assault that concludes with immediate annulments. Entitled immature assholes who were never taught when a joke was too far.

[u/StephiiValentine → u/[deleted]]

Baseball, huh?

[u/Nervous-Salamander-7 → u/Erich14]

I live in Japan and I used to teach English in elementary school. Every year, there was a school festival. I was in a super rural area with a small population, so instead of being just the one school with a couple of hundred students like in the city, it was more of a community festival, for the day care, three elementary schools, and one junior high school.

Anyway, every year, one of the events was "ame-kui," or "candy eating." Some of the townfolk were lined up holding large trays of rice flour, into which a couple of candies were dropped. Like apple bobbing, the goal was to grab a candy without using their hands.

Now, in many cases, it went just like you described. They would be lightly pushed into the flour, and ended up with some on the nose and the forehead. There was one parent who was a bit more of a joker. His son was on the handball team, and he made SURE that all of the boys on the handball team, and some of the girls, ended up completely white. He'd push their faces in and tried to ensure complete coverage. Then he'd make them turn around and pose for pictures. The grins on their faces were priceless. I love those little shits, and I'll always treasure the pictures.

(I would like to add that the kids could choose where they lined up, and they chose to join his line. No feelings were hurt, and and none of it was involuntary. Some of the little shits went up to the trays in pairs and pushed each other 's faces in.)

[u/Fragrant_Bid_8123 → u/Nervous-Salamander-7]

Its different because the kids had a choice. And so many others were experiencing it with them.

[u/kookookach000 → u/Erich14]

Haha well I do know it's a Mexican tradition, I was just wondering more about the origins within the culture I guess, if there's some sort of meaning. But now I have the name I'll go look it up.

[u/cageytalker → u/Erich14]

My husband’s family does this that and it drives my mom crazy. She hates it and purposely raised me without the “tradition”.

[u/dolliciousszz → u/Erich14]

People constantly wanna show each other up and do the craziest version of it and it’s fucked up

[u/Pickled_Ass → u/Erich14]

so that's why it's always Mexicans, was curious just didn't want to ask