The celebration of Hispanic heritage, or Hispanic Heritage Month, takes place in the United States from September 15th to October 15th. This celebration was new to me when I first moved here, but from the very beginning, I was fascinated by the idea of honoring Latinos who have made and continue to make history in this country. But it's not just that; it's also an opportunity for us to share our culture and heritage with others.
For me, as a Hispanic immigrant mother, I also see it as a great opportunity to teach my children something they may not have learned in school yet (where Hispanic Heritage is celebrated), or that we may not have learned last year because they were still younger.
So, last week we took the time to sit down and research online two notable Peruvian Hispanics here in the United States and around the world. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera handy to see the expression on my children's faces when they learned that Carlos Noriega was born in Lima, Peru, and is a renowned astronaut who participated in the construction of the International Space Station. They also learned about Javier Pérez de Cuellar, who served as Secretary-General of the United Nations for two terms beginning in 1982.
The official Hispanic Heritage celebration lasts a month, but for us it's all year long, with everything I share with my family, with the books we read, with the meals, the music, my stories, etc. If you ask my children what their favorite Spanish book is, they'll probably say the stories of Chimoc the dog, as for music, salsa and some marinera, and with great pride they'll say that El Condor Pasa is by a Peruvian author and not Simon & Garfunkel :).
And although my children's physical appearance doesn't help them much to identify them as half-Latino, they don't hesitate for a minute to let anyone who doubts it know...
We still have many days left in the year to learn and enrich ourselves further by learning new things about our Hispanic heritage. What is your favorite activity during this celebration?