Category: Latin American
The Easter Egg
Easter celebrations are filled with many traditions, but nothing has come to symbolize the Easter holiday as much as the colored or painted Easter egg. Many children spend their Easter Sunday hunting for Easter eggs, rolling them, or running races while carrying their eggs in spoons.
Across Eastern and Western cultures, eggs have long symbolized [...] Read More »
Hispanic Wedding Traditions: The Lasso (El lazo)
In many Hispanic cultures, a rope is used to symbolically tie the couple together.
In Guatemala, the couple binds themselves together with a silver rope. Mexican couples use a white rope tied in a figure eight. The rope may also be made of braided orange blossoms, which symbolize fertility and happiness. A double rosary lasso [...] Read More »
Hispanic Wedding Traditions: The Thirteen Gold Coins (Trece monedas de oro)
The tradition of the thirteen gold coins originates in the Roman custom of breaking gold or silver, one half to be kept by the woman and the other half by the man, as a pledge of marriage. Today, the ceremony symbolizes that the groom is placing his trust and confidence in his bride, pledging [...] Read More »
Mexican Wedding Traditions
Weddings in Mexico and other Latino cultures are extremely festive, and often very large affairs with many attendants. Engagements can last a long time, and, in some areas, the bride receives a “ring of promise,” sometimes up to a year before the actual engagement ring.
A wedding party may include “sponsors,” who are often godparents of [...] Read More »
The Tooth Fairy is a Mouse in France and a Magpie in Korea
In American culture, the tooth fairy visits whenever a child looses a baby tooth. Children put the tooth under their pillow when they go to bed at night, and wake up in the morning to find that the tooth has been replaced by some money! Sometimes the tooth is put in a decorated [...] Read More »
All Souls’ Day (Defuncts’ Day)
All Souls’ Day is a Roman Catholic holiday celebrated on November 2nd. (If that day falls on a Sunday, then All Souls’ Day is moved to November 3rd, since it is not permitted to wear black clothing on Sundays.) Like All Saints’ Day (November 1st), it is celebrated in many countries, including Belgium, [...] Read More »
How Do You Celebrate Dia de la Raza?
We have had a lot of traffic from people searching for information on how to celebrate Dia de la Raza. We've talked to several people from countries where October 12th is a holiday, but have not been able to get a lot of information about the traditions around this holiday , perhaps because it [...] Read More »
Columbus Day and Dia de la Raza
On the second Monday in October, Americans celebrate Columbus Day to commemorate Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World in 1492.
Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, and Uruguay celebrate Día de la Raza (day of the race) on October 12, to commemorate the first encounters between Europeans and Native Americans. Dia de [...] Read More »
