Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky have come under criticism for how they chose to celebrate their twin sons’ 9th birthdays.

Pataky, 46, and Hemsworth, 39, are the parents of three children — daughter India Rose, 10, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, who turned 9 on March 18, 2023.

Elsa Pataky smashed her twin sons' faces into their cake during the birthday celebration and is being called out as a mean parent.

The "Avengers: Endgame" actor posted a photo of their controversial celebration to Instagram. Their daughter also participated in the birthday prank and is seen holding her hand to her brother’s shoulders while smiling.

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Hemsworth stands behind the rest of his family with his hands on his hips, smiling proudly. “Happy 9th birthday to my two little men!” Hemsworth captioned the post. “Only one way to eat cake in this house and that’s to have mum slam your head into it face first!!”

“Hey mum I don’t like chocolate cake I prefer vanilla,” Hemsworth wrote, imagining his son’s reaction. “Oh really son, what about now?” Hemsworth tagged Pataky in the post, for which both he and his wife are receiving criticism.

Hemsworth and Pataky are being criticized for being mean parents because of the cake smash.

“This doesn’t seem funny,” wrote one person in the comments. “It seems almost violent.” Yet another person commented, “that is the correct and only way to eat a yummy chocolate cake."

Pataky's actions received differing interpretations from fans. Some people solely wished the twins a happy birthday, while others commented on the fact that Pataky shoved her son's face into the cake.

There is cultural precedent to this controversial form of celebration, rooted in Latino culture — noted by one person who commented with the statement, "Latina mom."

According to the University of Santa Cruz’s Digital Folklore Archives, “La mordida” means “the bite” in Spanish. It’s also one way that birthdays get celebrated, in Mexico, specifically, although La Mordida appears to also be a cross-cultural activity.

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According to this celebratory tradition, the birthday boy or girl has their face shoved into the birthday cake by someone else at the party.

Although Pataky was born in Madrid, Spain, it seems that the cake-smashing tradition is more rooted in Latin American countries than in European countries.

While most comments on Hemsworth's Instagram post were full of birthday wishes for his sons, one comment, in particular, acted as a warning to those thinking of shoving their kids’ faces into a cake.

One person told a personal anecdote in the comment thread, noting that a little girl lost an eye due to La Mordida when her face was slammed into a bamboo stick in her cake.

It’s important to respect cultural traditions, especially when they differ from what’s viewed as “the norm.”

It’s also valuable to note that while the Hemsworth kids were unharmed by their birthday prank, the common trend towards pranking kids while recording them can lend itself to childism, and also takes away from appreciating the in-the-moment celebration with family.

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Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.