Hispanic Heritage Month was marked as a national month-long holiday on September 14, 1989, the annual celebration tells the stories of Latino and Hispanic culture and their history. Hispanic Heritage Month isn’t just a time of festivities; the holiday has a much deeper connection to the roots of the cultures that build upon the foundations of America. It’s a time of representation, created to recognize and bring light to how the Hispanic and Latino communities have contributed and influenced American itself. It’s celebrated by many, with bright colors, different cultures, dancing, and the proud flags of over eight countries that mark their independence from Spain and how their cultures have shaped the multicultural identities of our nation.
Many celebrate this month-long holiday differently. While some celebrate with the idea of their independence from Spain, others use it as a chance to connect with other cultures and share their own. But one thing the festivities hold in common is representing their enrichment and achievements in America. Mareli Penaloza is a junior at Greenwood High School. “It’s basically celebrating some of the independence of the Spanish Countries, freeing themselves from Spain. It’s celebrating our culture.” Hispanic Heritage Month is about celebrating their culture. “Here in America it’s more common to be celebrated because you can celebrate your cultures and traditions more here. It’s all about expressing what you feel.” States Licsy Vasquez, a junior officer of the Spanish Club at GHS. The month-long celebration consists of festivities of all kinds, dancing, parties, parades, giving the cultures the chance to show off their practices and traditions. Ilhan Aguilar Plata, a senior at Greenwood High School says, “They celebrate with parties, sometimes with shows. Just whatever represents them.” Vasquez explains a lot of people have parties, some pray, and others partake in festivals or cook many different types of food. Downtown Bowling Green hosts a large festival every year to celebrate the holiday. People dance in the streets, parade their music and dresses, and show off their authentic foods. Overall the celebrations are large, colorful, culturally representative, and very celebratory.
Hispanic Heritage Month brings together different cultures from many different places in Central-America. With so many countries that celebrate, and so many unique cultures and special heritages, the celebrations are very diverse in showing different countries traditions, especially with foods. “Every single country has specific types of foods. From Honduras–that’s where I’m from–we have baleadas, or fried chicken.” Vasquez says. For other families, they make different types of food to celebrate. “For sweets, my mom makes conchas to the color of the bandera. Conchas are basically a sweet bread with a layer of sugar on top and it’s very soft.” Pentaloza explains that it’s her favorite dessert that her family traditionally makes during the celebration. Some don’t have specific foods that are made, and instead choose to take part in making other things. Such as Aguilar, who says his family makes a type of soup made from corn, called Pozole, which is very traditional. But no matter what they do to celebrate, each tradition is special and holds an importance in their culture and their value on their influence. “When I was in my country [mexico], the presidents would send jets to celebrate.” Aguilar states, talking about his favorite part of the holiday. “I went outside all the time because I lived close to the center so I saw all the jets and airplanes go. It was beautiful. I wish I could go back.”
Hispanic Heritage Month gives people the time to take part in important traditions and events that are culturally relevant in their families and friends. It’s a very valuable time to not only celebrate, but for people to learn more and represent where they come from and what their heritage consists of, which is very important when it comes to keeping cultures alive. Everyone celebrates differently, and every family has their own special traditions that are unique from one another. Aguilar says his family does a tradition during the holiday by making special foods and hosting small parties. “We have small parties, and we make many foods, too many foods. We even choose other foods from other countries like Arepas.” While Vasquez says her family does a little bit of all the festivities and her family traditionally visits with family she doesn’t get to see on the regular. Overall the month is a great time to celebrate for those who have contributed to Hispanic cultures, celebrating the state’s independence from Spain, and creating a representation in the United States. It’s important to honor the counties and the culture that have impacted our society at large.