National Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to observe and reflect the accomplishments and struggles of Hispanic and Latinx cultures in the United States.
According to the National Hispanic Heritage Month website, the month starts on Sept. 15 because it marks the anniversary of independence of Latin countries such as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. As well, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence on Sept. 16 and 18, respectively.
The observance ends on Oct. 15, three days after Columbus Day and Dia de La Raza.
Though the month is meant as a time for celebration, Associate Professor of Mexican American Studies (MAS) Cathryn Merla-Watson says that “over celebratory discourses” can lead people to believe the struggle is over.
“I would caution that in addition to sort of celebrating the accomplishments of Latinxs which is super, super important, of course, we also need to understand that this comes from a place of struggle,” Merla-Watson.
Merla-Watson, who identifies as bi-cultural, shares her perspective on Hispanic Heritage Month.
“While we have come a long way, so to speak, there’s still a long way to go and hopefully celebrations like this help galvanize us to create meaningful material change,” she said.
Merla-Watson says that Hispanic Heritage Month started as a one-week celebration because of legislation in 1968 by U.S. Rep. George Brown, Jr. (D-California). She says the legislation changed again in 1988 when U.S. Rep. Esteban Torres (D-California) proposed a one-month recognition and was signed into law by former President Ronald Regan.
Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations are usually lively with dances, music and food. This year’s COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the way celebrations would’ve been such as ones being hosted by UTRGV’s Campus Activity Board (CAB).
CAB Cultural Chair Alejandra Santos explains how events such as Fiestas Patrias starting today at 6 p.m., via Zoom are being planned to keep students safe and engaged.
“So what we are doing is that we decided to do a little bit of a twist on 100 Mexicanos dijeron and we’re going to do it like a 100 Vaqueros dijeron,” Santos said. “So for the entire month of September, we’ve been asking students questions on our Instagram.”
According to Santos, there will be other activities such as virtual Grito contests starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday via Zoom. Students who wish to enter must submit their Grito by today to CAB’s email.
Santos shares her personal perspective on why Hispanic heritage is crucial for students at UTRGV.
“I believe we need to be like ‘yes, we are amazing, we’re Hispanic,'” she said. “That’s not a weakness, that is the most important thing about us, that’s who we are as a person.”
For up-to-date event information, visit CAB’s Facebook page at facebook.com/utrgvcab
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