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 reading the ones she didn’t. For days, I was treated to their renditions of “Jingle Bell”s and “Joy to the World” — and I couldn’t help smiling. Unlike a lot of people I know, I love Christmas carols and I don’t mind listening to them all the time during this time of year.

But then it dawned on me that, even though I enjoyed listening to my kids singing Christmas songs, they were all in English. Nothing wrong with that, except that there’s a huge selection of Christmas songs in Spanish and I wanted to make sure they became part of their repertoire too.

I remembered Ana shared the lyrics to some beloved Villancicos last year and I went looking for them and also found the Feliz Navidad YouTube playlist she created last Christmas. It was a great start, but I wanted my kids — especially Vanessa because she loves reading so much— to have their own song book with the lyrics to even more Villancicos.

And so we decided to create a downloadable PDF with the lyrics to 9 popular Christmas songs in Spanish to share with you! Go ahead and print it and teach these beautiful songs to your kids. Vanessa loves the song book and now walks around with both the Spanish and the English versions.

Here’s a list of the Villancicos we’ve included:

1. Arre Borriquito
2. Ay del Chiquirritín
3. Burrito Sabanero
4. Campana sobre Campana
5. Cascabel, lindo Cascabel
6. El Niño del Tambor
7. Los Peces en el Río
8. Noche de Paz
9. Blanca Navidad

¡Que lo disfruten!

Click here to download our FREE printable lyrics PDF!

Click here to subscribe to Ana’s Villancicos Navideños playlist on Spotify

{Photo by Paul_Henry_}

My first memories of Día de Los Muertos was the smell of fresh mole and bolillos (baguettes) that my grandmother made and we took to the cemetery where her parents and siblings were buried, this repeated every November first, it was the most magical event of the year for me. I didn’t really know about Halloween then.

Abuelita said that bringing your relatives’ favorite foods to their tomb will bring their souls back to their buried bodies and we will feel close to them again –“death is part of life and we shouldn’t be afraid of it,” she used to say. She died last year in her sleep; she was not afraid to welcome La Muerte (lady death).

To bring her close to our heart, my son and I made an altar with some of her favorite items: Virgin de Guadalupe, Saints, Claveles (flowers) and fruit (sorry Abue, I don’t make mole!)

The one thing I learned about the sugar skulls and why you write your name on them is to think of your own death as part of your own life – in a sweet way – to not be afraid of it, just like Abuelita said. To celebrate our dead we decorate tombs or at-home-altars with Flor de Cimpasúchil, papel picado, tissue paper flowers, sugar skulls, pan de muerto, atole, fruits and the beautiful Catrinas o Calaveras which were made famous by painter Diego Rivera in his Mural Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en Alameda Central

One of the places in Mexico that has celebrated the Day of the Dead for centuries is Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, 30 minutes from where I grew up. This place is as magical as my childhood memories. In this town every November 1st, you can feel the souls of your ancestors, you can smell  wonderful foods and enjoy the vivid colors of the decorations. We believe the dead take the food’s flavors, therefore you are not supposed to eat the food offered to the ancestors. It is a big and colorful celebration that lasts all night!

{Photo courtesy of Michoacán el Alma de México}

I would like to invite you to celebrate your loved ones that have passed by sharing your Dia de Muertos pictures and stories on SpanglishBabyPlayground.  You can try to cook their favorite foods and decorate an altar with their pictures. I think it’s a wonderful experience for the whole family and especially for our SpanglishBabies who will continue a very dear cultural tradition their ancestors have celebrated for centuries.

Bizarre cravings aside — like a few months ago when my intense thirst for something salty led me to slurp down pickle juice straight from the jar — this, my second pregnancy, has been marked mostly by cravings for the foods I grew up with and the wonderful and diverse sabores from all across Latin America: Tex-Mex enchiladas and chalupas covered in yellow cheese; chorizo con huevo breakfast tacos with salsa; tacos de pastor drizzled with chopped onion and cilantro and finished with a squirt of lime; media noches; ceviche peruano; fried Nicaraguan cheese and gallo pinto; dulces de leche quemada; and, of course, Frito Pie—the best Texican culinary invention ever. And this is for starters.

So when my sister-in-law accidently told me that my husband’s family was throwing me a baby shower a few weeks before I visited Miami last month, I just knew what would make my ever-growing and apparently very hungry fetus and this ever-expanding mama super happy would be a shower theme built around Latino comfort foods, drinks and desserts. After all, I think if you get the chance to have a baby shower for baby #2 or #3 or so on, you can get away from pastel colors, storks, pacifiers and delicate finger foods and pick a theme that’s going to surprise and delight everyone (yes, even the men in the room) and send them home panza llena, corazón content.

And I know, I know, for most baby showers the mom should be hands-off. I mean, if there was ever a time to let others do the work of planning and setting up, it’s when you’re pregnant. But I did that for the four awesome baby showers I was given my first go-round, and this time I had so many ideas and an apparent streak of high energy (maybe I can blame the cortaditos I drank in Miami?) that I just had to help with pulling this fete together. I figured it would also be fun to gather the girls for a comadre crafts night to make paper flowers and paper pom poms for decorations. Plus, since we already have a 3-year-old daughter, we’re pretty much set with everything we need for baby #2, so it takes the pressure off everyone in the gifts department.

We stuck with the bright beautiful trio of colors of turquoise, magenta and yellow which automatically brought in a bold and festive feel. But to make sure the “baby shower” wasn’t lost, we integrated a pink gingham ribbon throughout as a reminder of our new baby girl. The food was mostly Mexican, but we did have a smattering of Peruvian and Nicaraguan foods mixed in there, too.

Here’s how we pulled of this Latino-inspired baby shower:

The Menu:

• Tacos al pastor, carnitas y alambre
• salsa, lime wedges, chopped onion & cilantro
• Mexican tamales of pork, beef and cream cheese & jalapeño
• Layered bean dip (refried beans, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, pico de gallo and shredded cheese) served with corn tortilla chips

Drinks:

• Jarritos, assorted flavors
• Aguas Frescas de melón y sandía

Dessert Table:

• Basket filled with Assortment of Mexican candies, including obleas, leche quemada and Canel’s chicle
• Alfajores
• Nicaraguan cake
• Arroz con leche
• Pink Cupcakes

Latino-inspired Decorations:

• Paper Flowers and Paper Pom Poms for hanging
• Lavender sachets in calaveras print bag
• Mexican matchbox favors filled with baby rattle candy
• Pink maracas
• Custom food labels and invitations
• Custom-made Papel Picado-inspired cupcake toppers that read Nena, Niña, Bebita, Chavala, Escuincla, etc.
• Floral napkins and pink and turquoise colored plates

We played a few traditional baby shower games, including bilingual baby shower bingo, meaning the announcer had to translate for the non-English guests playing along. We had music, Shakira radio on Pandora, and I also pulled together a slideshow that played on repeat showing photos of my daughter, me, my husband and our parents as babies. It was fun for guests to try to figure out who was who, and my 3-year-old got a huge kick out of seeing her abuelos and parents as babies, especially the photo of her dad as a 3-month-old lying on his tummy in the buff.

Although my husband doesn’t get to read to our daughter as much as they’d both like to, a few nights ago he was home before her bedtime and she begged him to read her the new book we had just received to review for this month’s ReadMe: Mimí’s Parranda.

It was a great pairing because the book is about a parranda – an awesome, fun and musical tradition that takes place during Christmas in Puerto Rico, my husband’s homeland. So he immediately got into it and even interrupted his reading to tell Vanessa his own stories of parrandas. Needless to say, she was in heaven!

Gil tells the story of Mimí, a girl for whom Christmas is synonymous with traveling to Puerto Rico to go to the beach, eat pasteles and get a parranda. But this particular year, things are a bit different. Mimí has a baby sister and her mom informs her they can’t travel because she’s too little. Oh, the disappointment! By the end of the story, though, Mimí’s school friends, who originally made fun of her explanation of a parranda, actually bring one to her as a surprise when they find out she’s not going to Puerto Rico.

I had initially found Lydia Gil’s beautiful bilingual book, “Mimí’s Parranda/La parranda de Mimí,” at our local library at the beginning of the year. I remember being immediately drawn to it because we had just come back from Puerto Rico where we had the opportunity to experience a parranda. Several months later, as I was trying to figure out what book to review for December’s ReadMe, I came across the book again at the library and I had my answer.

I like the book for a lot of reasons but mostly because it deals with cultural differences – a topic much too important for all of us raising bilingual kids. And one Gil obviously understands.

“While pregnant, I began to think of the traditions my child would grow up with here in the US.  As a child of immigrants myself–my family left Cuba for Puerto Rico shortly before I was born—I grew up with two sets of traditions: the Cuban inside the home and the Puerto Rican outside.  The “parranda”, however, was one of the few instances in which both worlds mingled,” Gil explained in an interview via email. “I wanted to recreate that feeling of joyful cultural coexistence for my child and share the wonderful memories I had of parrandas while growing up Puerto Rico.”

One of the things that makes this bilingual book different than the others we’ve presented through ReadMe so far is that it was not translated from English to Spanish. Gil, who was raised speaking Spanish only, wrote it in both languages at the same time. I can’t even begin to fathom the complexity of this undertaking. Talk about the definition of being bilingual…

“It’s an interesting process because sometimes the English informed the Spanish and vice-versa.  This is usually how I write creative prose.  It poses some challenges, of course, because sometimes an expression that flows very well in one language has no equivalent in the other, so I have to rephrase in order for the translation to remain accurate,” Gil said about the process. “While literary translators can make aesthetic choices when books are published in translation, bilingual children’s books, in my opinion, need to be fastidiously accurate for the sake of reference, basically, so one who is not fluent in one language can find a working equivalent in the other as easily as possible.”

It’s difficult to find somebody who has the talent to do that. While reading the book the first time, I immediately noticed it didn’t really sound like a translation. In fact, I usually ask the authors featured in ReadMe to explain why the book was translated to Spanish. In Gil’s case, I actually asked if she’d written it in both. As a writer myself, I truly admire Gil’s ability to do this without compromising the story she is telling.

Read the rest of the interview and maybe you too will hope she writes another children’s book soon.

“I would recommend reading it all the way through in one language and then in the other, not alternating paragraph by paragraph.  Kids don’t need to understand every word to get the gist of a story, so it’s important to maintain the flow of language.  I also did an audio version of Mimí’s Parranda with a company that specializes in Spanish and bilingual audiobooks for children, Lorito Books.  Audiobooks are a wonderful way for parents to reinforce the language that is not their dominant.  However, they should be a companion to reading with their children, not a substitute.”

“Literacy is essential to the success of any community!  Among the Latino communities, bilingual literacy should be a priority. I often see students of Latino heritage who can converse quite well in Spanish, but who lack the reading and writing skills necessary to function professionally as bilingual.  I think that all communicative skills should be emphasized from childhood.  This would help children become proficient in both languages and also facilitate the acquisition of other languages later on.”

What do you think about the concept of raising kids bilingual/bi-cultural?

“I think that if parents have the ability to raise their kids bilingual and bicultural they must do it. Before our daughter was born, we decided she would be raised bilingual. I spoke Spanish to her from the moment I held her and my husband spoke English, his native language.  This became the norm for her: Spanish with mom and English with dad. It’s great to hear her teach dad how to say things in Spanish and to see her in the playground switching between languages to whatever language feels natural with her friends.”

“I grew up surrounded by books.  My parents always said that while we didn’t have much money for leisurely things, there was always enough for books.  Plus we borrowed and traded and, as kids, we wrote stories to embellish the ones we were reading… So I guess writing came as a natural extension of reading.”

“The Piñata Books imprint is a gem for parents, teachers and, of course, children!  Their editorial vision is to create bilingual books for children that reflect an authentic Latino cultural experience.  It differs from most other publishers that cater to Latino children in their insistence on cultural authenticity, bilingual accuracy, and accessibility. I felt honored that my book was published by Arte Público, and my experience with them could not have been more positive.”

Lydia Gil

LYDIA GIL: (Cuba/Puerto Rico) writer, teacher and journalist. She teaches Spanish language and Latin American literature at the University of Denver, and reports on cultural and literary news for the Hispanic News Services of EFE, Spain’s News Agency. Since 1998, she writes the weekly book-review column “Libros.”  She is the author of “Mimí’s Parranda/La parranda de Mimí”, a bilingual children’s book.

The Giveaway:

As you probably know by now, part of ReadMe includes the opportunity to win a copy of the book being reviewed. This is another one you’ll definitely want to add to your kids’ library. To win, share with us what holiday tradition you have passed (or plan to pass) on to your children and why.

Giveaway rules.

This giveaway ends at midnight EST on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009. Entries/Comments that do not follow the submission guidelines will be invalid and automatically deleted.  Sorry, just need to keep  it fair. Good luck to all!

Photo by peasap

I grew up in El Salvador going to Piñatas, not fiestas de cumpleaños, but Piñatas. If you guessed that the smacking of the hanging toy was the main attraction, you’re right. The thing is I don’t remember ever having fun when it was my turn to grab the stick and hit the swinging piñata. I never felt tall enough, strong enough, or maybe I simply was never interested enough.

I was reminded about this feeling of childhood inadequacy last week when I took my toddler to a friend’s second birthday. The fun party had a Venezuelan and a Dora theme. We ate sandwichon for the first time ever and loved it, tried to sing the Venezuelan birthday song (thanks to Marianna for posting the lyrics!), jumped in the Dora bouncer and ran to get in the circle when  it came time to hit the piñata. Camila was loving the giant, crepe-paper Dora.

But then, her nightmare began. She had no idea Dora would get beaten up with a stick by her friends! I had  no idea my daughter was so sensitive. Holding on to my leg, she remained semi-brave watching the scene in front of her, but then, something happened and Dora snapped from the string and fell with a thud to the floor. Oh no! That was it! Camila lost it right there. I had to get her as far as possible from the “crime scene.” She didn’t want to get close to it at all. She wasn’t even interested in the candy I was insisting she have. For some insane reason I wanted to see her madly dashing for candy on all fours, and having fun at it. But my daughter just isn’t into piñatas.

I know, she’s only two. She’ll probably outgrow it, or maybe not. Maybe I was just as sensitive and never outgrew it and that’s why I never enjoyed it. However, I still enjoy the idea of it and the tradition it represents.

I’m sure if it hadn’t been one of her favorite cartoon characters, she wouldn’t have freaked out. I mean, think about it-she dances and sings and talks to Dora on occasions and now she has to see her get shred to pieces. How much are children able to disconnect and disassociate? Many kids were upset, many were not. Does it have to do with their level of connection with the character or are they just able to see it as play, whereas Camila identified it with violence?

Photo by gusdrinks

I don’t mean to be a piñata-pooper. I love the tradition of a piñata and want to have one every year for every occasion. But why do we have to use the image of our children’s favorite amigos as a piñata? What happened to the original seven-pointed star symbolic of the seven sins? At least there’s a point to smashing those to pieces! Or how about a number, a donkey, or even a Star Wars Death Star (for real??)?

The host of the party was concerned that her daughter would also have a melt down at the time of the Dora destruction. She thinks that since her girl went through the whole process of buying the piñata, filling it with candy, lugging her to the park, etc she already understood what was going to happen and was able to enjoy it.

This makes me think there’s still hope for us and many piñata-filled years to come. Camila’s second birthday is coming up next month and I want to start incorporating this tradition. We’ll take baby steps. We’ll start with a more age-appropriate pull-string piñata. Ok, maybe it’s not as fun or loud or destructive but I’ll bet anything pre-schoolers will get a kick out of it. I found this blog, Thingamababy, with great instructions on how to make your own pull-string piñata.

Maybe next year we’ll take it a step further by making our own piñata in some crazy shape.  I’m not a crafty chica, but this could become a good tradition within a tradition. Here’s a good video for that:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSvgdIOwJ4k&feature=related

Piñataboy is also a good resource for piñata-making instructions and inspirations for different shapes to experiment with.

If you want to know more about the actual tradition of the piñata and where it comes from (would you believe it’s been traced back to China?!) then this is a great read. It will give more meaning to our yearly smash-fest.

But, no matter how much Camila grows to love piñatas and I let go of my childhood fears, I shall never, ever get her a talking piñata that “speaks” every time it gets smacked. Huh?

Have any tips on how to ease a toddler into a piñata-fest?  Any funny stories to share?  Sure you do!

If you like what we’re talking about sign up for free SpanglishBaby updates via email or via RSS. You’ll like it.

Photo by Cintron22

It’s 2:30 in the madrugada and the rooster won’t stop crowing. I thought this only happened at the break of dawn! What is going on? It was okay the first few days, but after all the late nights celebrating Año Nuevo and the first day of 2009 and just life in general – as they do on this beautiful island on a regular basis – I want to kill the stupid rooster.

But then, I remember how Vanessa’s face lit up when she first heard it the morning after our first night in her father’s homeland, Puerto Rico. “Mami, cucha! Ki-ki-ki!” – she instructed me to listen unable to contain her excitement. For the first time in her short life, she was hearing the sound of a real rooster just outside her bedroom window. Later on, after she got dressed, we went outside to take a look at the culprit and we were all surprised to see not only one, but two roosters, a bunch of hens, and about ten tiny chickies.

My husband’s family lives in the northwest part of the island and even though we’re staying in a a recently constructed community, it’s still el campo. So – to my daughter’s delight – our next door neighbor is somehow allowed to raise these farm birds. And even though I’m annoyed (to put it lightly) with their crowing at ungodly hours, I have to admit nothing makes my heart sing more than not having to explain to my daughter what it means to grow up en el campo.

A celebration like no other

The night before Reyes Magos – one of the biggest celebrations of Epiphany in any Spanish-speaking country I’ve ever had the fortune to experience – we were awoken in the middle of the night by a parranda at a neighbor’s house. This is basically when a group of friends armed with maracas, guitarras, güiros, palitos – among other instruments -quietly gathers in front of a friend or family member’s house late at night and when everyone’s setup they start singing and playing typical música navideña de Puerto Rico, waking up the household members to the sound of music, loud music. This goes on for a while and then the group and the members of the house move on to another house and so on, until the group is small no more and they reach the last house around 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning.

The night in question, we were all startled by the festive music. Vanessa woke up and asked: “Qué eso?” To which her father responded: “Una parranda!” And she immediately started dancing! What can I say, she has it in her blood… Anyhow, a few minutes later and because I had never heard or seen a live parranda – and since you only live this particular life once and we were already awake – we decided to check it out. So, in the middle of the night and in our pj’s, we got in the car and took Vanessa to experience her first parranda. When we got there, my husband explained that it was probably the last house because of the amount of people and the smell of asopao – a kind of typical chicken soup that has to be served by the last house to receive the parranda.

We weren’t there long – and I don’t know how much of it Vanessa will actually remember – but I’m glad we did it. It is so much better to teach our kids about our culture through actual experiences…

What are some of your favorite cultural traditions? What do you do to teach your kids about them? Why do you think it’s important to keep traditions alive?