Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration In Athens, Al

We are pleased to announce the Second celebration of the Hispanic Heritage Month in Athens, AL. This will take place the 19 of October, 2013 at Swan Creek Park in Athens. The celebration will be from 1:00pm to 5:00pm.

President Lyndon Johnson approved the Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968. President Ronald Reagan extended the length of the celebration in 1988 to cover a 30-day period (September 15 – October 15). The Theme for 2013 is, “Our Time: A Strong America.”

The contributions made and the importance of the presence of Hispanic and Latino Americans are recognized by celebrating the National Hispanic Heritage Month. Hispanic Heritage Month also celebrates the long and important presence of Hispanic and Latino Americans in North America, starting with the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus on the morning of October 12, 1492. On this day we celebrate Columbus Day (Dia de la Raza).

The celebration begins each year on September 15, the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico, Chile and Belize also celebrate their independence days during this period.

Again this year we will have “DJ Ed” with us playing great Latin music. We will also have face painting, dancers, games, salsa lessons and more. Since one of the most famous Latin dishes is “Arroz con Pollo,” we will have a contest with Arroz con Pollo from 8 different countries. We will also have delicious dishes from several countries for tasting.

The idea of this festival is to share our heritage, customs, culture, food, and dances. We look forward to having the support of the community in general.

If anyone is interested in participating, please feel free to contact: Maria Taylor at 256- 233-0226.

We look forward to seeing you at Swan Creek Park on October 19!

This is a little trivia about Hispanic and Latino Americans:
Hispanic and Latino Americans are an ethno linguistic group of citizens of the United States with origins in the countries of Latin America or the Iberian peninsula. More generally it includes all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino. Reflecting especially the Latin American population, which has origins in all the continents and many ancestries, Hispanic/Latino Americans are very racially diverse, and as a result form an ethnic category, rather than a race.

While the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, Hispanic is a narrower term which mostly refers to persons of Spanish-speaking origin or
ancestry, thus includes persons from Spain and Spanishspeaking.

Hispanic is a narrower term Latin Americans, excluding Brazilians (who speak Portuguese).

Latino is more frequently used to refer more generally to anyone of Latin American origin or ancestry, including Brazilians.

Latino excludes persons from Spain but includes both Spanish-speaking and Portuguese- speaking Latin Americans. The choice between the terms Latino and Hispanic among those of Spanishspeaking origin is also associated with location: persons of Spanish-speaking origins residing in the eastern United States tend to prefer the term Hispanic, whereas those in the West tend to prefer Latino.
Submitted by Maria Taylor for AthensPlus.com
September 12, 2013
Photo by AthensPlus.com