Dia de la Cruz
Yesterday was a big day at school. They celebrated Dia de la Cruz. It is a big cultural holiday here which from what I can tell celebrates their Indian and campesino (poor farmer) heritage. Every class had a female representative that dressed up like the old days...very very colorful. (I was the photographer so I will be posting as soon as I get my camera chord.) They looked so beautiful. From kinder to 9th, every representative went on stage Miss America style and said their name and what class they were representing. Then they went on stage again for a "walk/dance" where they showed off their dresses and graced the crowd with non-smiles. Then, they went on stage again to answer a question by the emcee (no joke). The younger girls got cultural questions like what day is it, what is the national flower, etc. The older girls got questions like the winner who was asked, "What advice can you give students on how to be better citizens?" Her answer, which won her the crown, was something like "Be a good student and role model at school, and go to church."
All in all, a fascinating display of Salvadoran culture. I can't wait to show off my beautiful girls to ya'll as soon as I get that darn camera chord!
Adios, for now.
All in all, a fascinating display of Salvadoran culture. I can't wait to show off my beautiful girls to ya'll as soon as I get that darn camera chord!
Adios, for now.
Comments
This gives me some more potential insight to Cinco de Mayo. For anybody that thinks its Mexico's Independence Day, it's definately not. And no one in Mexico outside of one city celebrates the day. However I've always justified the "holiday" recognition in the US on the grounds that it celebrates Latino culture in the way St. Patrick's Day celebrates the Irish.
Maybe Cinco de Mayo in the US isn't so crazy after all. I'd need to look up if other Latin American countries have celebrations around the same time, but maybe May 5 is a convenient way of celebrating Latinos in the US because it falls around the time of several countries' cultural celebrations?
Or maybe I've put way too much thought into it...
I agree totally on the point about Cinco de Mayo. Screw the history or what people think. It's a well-recognized Mexican/Hispanic holiday. And, I like that, like St. Pat's, EVERYONE takes it upon themselves to celebrate. However, there was very little boozing for Dia de la Cruz so not sure you could lump it in with Cinco de Mayo.
That said, it has occurred to me more and more lately how hard it is to lump all Hispanics together...that is for another day with Regular Reader themselves though...