While Cabrini students settle into a new school year, it is not only “back to school” time that some students and educators are celebrating, Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 is a time set aside to celebrate Hispanic Heritage.
The Google definition of Hispanic is a Spanish-speaking person living in the US, especially one of Latin American descent. But Hispanic Heritage month is celebrated by many people, even those who don’t consider themselves Hispanic.
Dr. Cynthia Halpern, a Spanish professor at Cabrini, said, “I do celebrate Hispanic Heritage month by visiting the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Virgin Mother of all of the Americas.”
In addition to cities like Philadelphia with nods to Hispanic heritage, there are other places in America that also have rich Hispanic heritage that people are not aware of. There is a rich history that exists in America’s national parks and Nationalparks.org celebrates 10 national parks for Hispanic Heritage month.
Students and faculty are especially proud of their Hispanic heritage when it comes to food. Guilherme Lopes “G”, director of campus ministry said, “Food is celebrated from the local level, not a commercial level. Tacos from Mexico, meat from Brazil, coffee from Nicaragua, I mean – there are plenty of wonderful hidden treasures.” He also mentioned that soccer is important to his family and that his family is more attentive to soccer during Hispanic month.
For background, LatinX is defined as a person of Latin American origin or descent (used as a gender-neutral or non-binary alternative to Latino or Latina)
Maribel Hernandez, a local educator and Spanish tutor, said, “There are several things that my students do to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month. They research a LatinX achiever of their choice to highlight in class, we include short readings and poems, and promote LatinX business and restaurants in our daily announcements.”
Hernandez also pointed out how it is important to recognize the influence of Hispanic heritage in media. She said, “I also ask my students to look for new representation of Hispanic culture in the movies and TV. The new reboot of shows like One Day at a Time showing the experiences of Hispanic families is such a positive in representing our culture in media.” She said that she even shows the Disney movie, Coco, to her classes every year to teach them about the culture surrounding remembering Hispanic heritage through the “Day of the Dead/ Día De Los Muertos” celebrations.
In talking about Hispanic and Latin culture, the common thread among all those celebrating is joy. Mr. Lopes, said, “I think the Brazilian culture is filled with emotion. Everything is done with so much love and energy. We are very passionate about our sports, our people, our country. I find that to be true with every Hispanic/Latin culture.”
Hernandez said, “Luckily for me, every day is Hispanic Heritage Month. I enjoy my mother’s Puerto Rican cooking regularly, listen to my favorite Spanish radio station on my way to work every day and celebrate language and culture with my students all year long.”
