Hispanic Heritage Month runs through Oct. 15 with the theme “Unidos: Inclusivity for a Stronger Nation.”
*WAYS TO CELEBRATE:*
- Latin dance workout with Bachata and Salsa dance tutorial at Tutorial at //www.youtube.com/….
- Movie night. “Coco,” “Encanto,” “Stand and Deliver,” “Book of Life,” “Ferdinand,” “Selena,” “The Mask of Zorro,” “West Side Story,” “Tortilla Soup,” “Like Water for Chocolate,” “Frida,” “Apocalypto,” “Under the Same Moon,” “The Road to El Dorado,” “Real Women have Curves,” and “La Bamba.”
- Making Mexican hot chocolate. It’s more sweet and spicy (hint of cinnamon) than usual hot chocolate. Here is a recipe: //mexican-hot-chocolate-recipe/
- Taking a virtual tour of famous South American countries, such as Machu Picchu and Iguazu Falls or
- Reading Hispanic Poetry.
*DID YOU KNOW . . . *
- *Famous inventors* Color TV, Guillermo Gonzalez, Mexican; E-book, Angela Ruiz Robles, Spanish; Artificial heart, Domingo Liotta, Argentinian; X-ray microscope, co-invented by Albert Vinicio Baez, Mexican; first Hispanic female astronaut, Ellen Ochoa, Mexican-American; transdermal patches, Alejandro Zaffaroni, Uruguayan; Seismic Wave Detector, Arturo Arias, Chilean.
- *Celebrities you may not have known who have Hispanic heritage.* Bruno Mars, Puerto Rican; Sammy Davis Jr., Cuban; Lynda Carter, Mexican; Cameron Diaz, Cuban; Rita Hayworth, Spanish; Raquel Welch, Bolivian); Carmelo Anthony, Puerto Rican; Mariah Carey, Venezuelan.
- *“Hispanic” and “Latino” have different meanings* see here
- Hispanic refers to someone who comes from or is a descendant of a Spanish-speaking country, whereas
- Latina or Latino (or the gender-neutral, Latinx)* refers to someone who comes from Latin America or is a descendant from any Latin American country. For example, Brazil is in Latina America, but the primary language spoken is Portuguese, not Spanish. Someone from Brazil is considered Latina(o) but not Hispanic.
- Activities To Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month…
*FIRST HISPANIC IN HAWAII*
The first documented presence of a Hispanic in the Hawaiian Islands was that of Don Francisco de Paula Marin, a 20-year-old Spanish sailor. He deserted a Spanish naval ship and became a resident of Honolulu in 1793 or 1794.
Don Francisco was from Jerez de la Frontera – an agricultural part of southern Spain. He was very familiar with the medicinal uses of plants and herbs. He got to Hawaii as King Kamehameha I was uniting the Islands.
Due to Marin’s extensive knowledge of medicinal uses of plants and herbs, he soon came to the attention of the king and became the Kamehameha I’s business adviser, bookkeeper, physician and interpreter. He was at King Kamehameha I’s bed when he died in 1819, according to the article “Hawaii Hispanic History“.
Through service to the king and the ali`i, he acquired land and wealth. He was a skilled businessman who turned a love of plants into a “ship supply” business. He provided fresh fruits and vegetables to the crews of foreign ships that had started arriving at Honolulu Harbor in the late 1700s.
Marin is best remembered for his green thumb. He was responsible for introducing many food plants to the Islands: apples, apricots, asparagus, avocado, cabbage, carrots, chile pepper, eggplant, lemons, limes, macadamia, nectarines, nuts, olives, onion, oranges, parsley, peas, peaches, pears, potatoes, rice, tea and tobacco.
According to a Hawaiian History book by Richard Wiesnewski, “The Rise and Fall of the Hawaiian Kingdom,” Francisco Marin planted the first pineapple in the Kingdom of Hawaii on Jan. 2, 1813.
