This year, Philadelphia's San Mateo Carnavaleros will celebrate its tenth anniversary. Made up of Mexican immigrants, the organization holds a festival every April to commemorate the Battle of Puebla. Costumed dancers parade through South Philly and end up on Washington Avenue for a huge outdoor gathering. 2016's incarnation will be even bigger, with bands from Mexico traveling north for the party. And the group recently took park in another famous local tradition -- and perennial source of controversy -- the Mummers parade. 

On January 1, the Carnavaleros stepped out as the first group in the new Philadelphia Division. Family and friends came out to the parade to support them -- a significant achievement, as the city's growing Mexican immigrant community has traditionally eschewed the New Year's Day celebration. 

But not long after the Carnavaleros made their way down Broad Street, the Sammar Strutters from the Comics Division presented their own theme of "Siesta to Fiesta": members were painted in brownface, wearing ponchos and sombreros, with some dressed as tacos. Photos of the skit -- which featured children in brown face paint -- went viral alongside the parade's other offensive moments: signs mocking Black Lives Matter, a transphobic Caitlyn Jenner skit and anti-gay hate speech caught on tape. 

No one from the Mummers reached out to San Mateo Carnavaleros to gauge their reaction or to apologize for the brownface display. Nor did anyone else from the media -- excluding two area Latino publications -- get in touch. Before the parade, the group received countless inquiries about their groundbreaking participation in the event. 

"When I saw it myself, I had to stop for a second, like, 'Oh! Oh! They're doing this," recalls Monica Orozco, spokesperson for San Mateo Carnavaleros. "The brownface...it's not something that we want to show off as a city and I believe, [for] the Mummers, it's not something to be proud." 

As for the skit overall, according to Orozco, the Carnavaleros "didn't take it personally." While this year's events certainly pointed to a need for change, it won't stop the group from wanting to come back in 2017. 

The troupe was originally founded by a few families who wanted to bring their carnival tradition from the Mexican state of Puebla to their adopted hometown of Philadelphia. The celebration quickly grew into an annual event, Carnaval de Puebla, with Orozco helping to organize permits and legalities. The connective tissue between the Mummers and the Carnavaleros -- flashy costumes, live music, festive dancing -- was apparent. When it was finally suggested that the San Mateo group participate in the annual New Year's Day parade, they were thrilled. 

That invitation was the result of outreach from a few Mummers in particular who hoped the parade could better reflect the diversity of the city.

Jesse Engaard, founder of the Rabble Rousers brigade in the Comics Division, asked the question aloud at an event last spring: "When did we stop inviting new immigrants to the Mummers parade?" 

That conversation was part of a panel at Taller Puertorriqueno, hosted by Tropicalismo DJ partners Juanderful (Juan Bustamante) and Gregzinho (Greg Scruggs). The interactive salon explored the local carnival cultures of Philadelphia that historically haven't intersected, from Mummers to Carnaval de Puebla to the Philly Caribbean Festival.

As part of a project for the Fleisher Art Memorial Wind Challenge (he was a winner for his work as a video artist), Engaard organized a forum to discuss inclusion in the Mummers. It hosted by Danielle Redden, co-captain of the Vaudevillains New Years Brigade. Later, at the Tropicalismo panel, Engaard "made it my mission to invite as many people as I possibly could" to the Mummers. 

The San Mateo Carnavaleros reciprocated, inviting the Rabble Rousers to participate in their own celebration. 

"[They said] if you're gonna have us in your parade, we're gonna have you in our parade," recalls Engaard, who took part in the Puebla festival last year. "I imagine I felt a lot like they'd feel joining the Mummers -- [would] I fit in? It was really fun, and once I did that I felt like they hopefully [would] feel comfortable joining in with the Mummers." 

Meanwhile, Redden was busy advocating with the City and organizing meetings. Parade Director Leo Dignam and Rue Landau, executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, already had this issue on their radars. In November, the Philadelphia Division was announced: a new Mummers category designed to encourage diverse groups to take part in the parade. 

"The new division is a good opportunity to get more of a spotlight for these new people that are joining in," said Engaard a week before the parade as buzz was building. Besides the Carnavaleros, the Philadelphia Division featured the Puerto Rican music group Los Bomberos de la Calle from North Philly; Second to None, an African American drill team from West Philadelphia; and the Miss Fancy Brigade, an LGBT drag-queen troupe. 

Both groups that actively advocated for diversity in the parade -- the Rabble Rousers and the Vaudevillains -- are fairly new. The Vaudevillains first marched in 2008; the Rabble Rousers were founded in 2009. Their members are younger and more diverse, a contrast to generations-old clubs. Engaard said that many Mummers clubs are eager to have new members. But while he noted that the Goodtimers Comic Club in particular was "really psyched" to have the Carnavaleros join (they were "really supportive of my mission to get people into the parade, the more the merrier kind of thing"), the cultural divide that remains was clear on New Year's Day. While some participants push for inclusion, others foster a community in which "Pirate Lives Matter" signs and mocking transgender people is considered acceptable.

"I don't know if, when the city included the Philadelphia Division, it was something they worked out with the Mummers [directly]," muses Orozco. "Or was the city adding this to make the Mummers more diverse? I mean, it's a good idea, but if it wasn't something in collaboration with the Mummers this is something that definitely has to be talked about and it has to be explained...why we're doing it and [how] important it is." 

In other words, education -- which is being proposed as a possible requirement for next year's parade participants. Orozco reiterates that it's a lack of understanding that results in the type of displays the city witnessed at the parade. 

"I think those kind of actions come from a lot of ignorance," she says. "I want to be positive and think that if you understand a culture, you will respect it... I think that's what all those ignorant comments and ignorant signs and acts come from -- not knowing what that culture, that group, has to offer your community, your society, the city." 

Encouraging some cultural education for Mummers groups "will impact not only the Mummers, it will impact the whole community, because they live here," she continues. "A tiny understanding of cultures will benefit the whole South Philadelphia community."

A lot of this tension stems directly from demographic changes: A growing Mexican immigrant population has helped reshape South Philly in the past decade. 

"We came here to make a positive change," says Orozco, pointing to the turnaround of the Italian Market. "We revived that market. Half of those stands are Mexican, sixty percent of the stores and restaurants are managed by us and we are the ones that walk the streets and we are the ones that buy those products...So it has definitely been a positive change and a positive thing for the city that we are here." 

"We are very family oriented," Orozco continues. "We don't come here to make any trouble. We want to work hard." 

While many immigrants intend to send money home and return themselves, plans change and they often end up settling down here. Orozco sees cultural training as a way to build positive relationships in the community. 

"We want to have a good relationship with each other and be able to participate and see each other and high five and have fun," she insists. "We have the right to be angry, we have the right to not like it, but instead of lashing out...we have to offer a solution... At the same time, we cannot pretend that it is going to change [180] degrees."

Even with the controversy, Orozco emphasizes that the Carnavaleros had a great experience at the parade. 

"We didn't have any confrontations," with anyone, she says. "We liked it...we hope that we get invited again and that more of our people will come and see us and enjoy it."

Orozco's daughter, now ten years old, was in school in South Philly before the family's recent move to New Jersey. 

"[My daughter] would go to school with white, Asian, Muslim, herself, and she never saw any different," concludes Orozco. "It's up to us to let them see that everybody is different and everybody is the same at the same time." 

MARTHA COONEY is a Philly-based writer. She is founder and director of StoryUP!, which inspires kids to build literacy skills through comedy and storytelling.