Traditions + Culture

Out of all the Latino cultural traditions we embrace and celebrate in our Mexican/Salvadorean/North American home, the one my girl now looks forward to the most is the making of cascarones for Easter. Yes, it does have a lot to do with the fact that she gets to smash an egg shell filled with confetti on her mamis head and make a huge mess at it, but who can blame her? This year I’m looking to get a bit moreRead More ...

This week Mexico is celebrating “El Dia de La Bandera Nacional” or The National Flag’s Day and I would like to share this tradition with you. The photo above is my beautiful niece Maria Camila as the flag-bearer at her school’s ceremony in Guadalajara, Mexico. National flag celebrations take place every year on the week of February 24 in Mexico, which is the day the flag was first implemented  in 1937. As a national holiday and to pay respect to the nationalRead More ...

There are a ton of things I miss about my birth country, but the food and the Pacific Ocean are probably the two I miss the most. The only way for me to solve this is to travel back home, but since it’s been almost two years since our last trip there, I have to settle for the “encargos” my mom brings with her to Denver every time she goes back to Peru. Through the years, the list hasn’t reallyRead More ...

We’ve been in Texas since Friday spending time with some really good Mexican friends we consider family. We’re preparing everything for our New Year’s Eve celebration tonight and as I was checking to make sure we had enough grapes for everyone to eat 12 at the stroke of midnight, I started thinking of all the other traditions/superstitions Latinos have related to Año Nuevo. 12 uvas de la suerte This tradition is originally from Spain, but has been adopted by manyRead More ...

It’s funny how one slowly starts becoming just like one’s mamá. You notice it when you start blurting out your wisdom in dichos or when you scold your child with words that ring in your head like ghosts from the past. But little did you know that even those remedios caseros (home remedies) you thought were a pain to swallow or deal with as a child and that your mom or abuela so lovingly administered, actually became engrained in youRead More ...

The lechón smells delicious as it finishes roasting in the oven, the majority of the gifts are wrapped and underneath the Christmas tree and the playlist full of trullas navideñas and villancicos is ready for tonight’s Nochebuena celebration, which I’ll be hosting in my home this year. It’s going to be a long night… but one of my favorite ones of the year. I doubt we’ll wait until midnight to have dinner — like we  used to when I wasRead More ...

I have precious memories of celebrating Posadas with neighbors and relatives growing up in Mexico. This week, I was inspired by Becky’s post on Celebrating Las Posadas from Mexico to the US  and I wanted to share the Christmas carol we sang at the Posadas. You can find the printable form below for you to sing with your family! The “Pedir Posada” Villancico tells the story of Maria and Jose’s arrival to Belen (Bethlehem.) The party is divided into groups, theRead More ...

Like most kids I know, Vanessa and Santiago are crazy about music. Vanessa loves to sing and Santiago loves to dance and play instruments. A few weeks ago, Santiago got a song book from his preschool with all the songs he and his classmates would sing during their annual Christmas show last week. As soon as Vanessa got a hold of the song book, she started singing out loud as many as the songs she already knew and just readingRead More ...