September 15th marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month. Its purpose: to pay “tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society.”
The date was chosen in order to coincide with the independence days of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Now running from September 15th to October 15th, the commemoration was originally conceived of by president Lyndon Johnson as a heritage week in 1968, then later lengthened by Ronald Reagan and passed into law twenty years later in 1988. Falling within today’s Hispanic Heritage Month are also the independence days of Mexico (not on May 5th as many Americans assume, bur rather on September 16th) and Chile (September 18th), as well as Columbus Day/el Día de la Raza on October 12th.
The backslashing of that last holiday highlights an important facet of Hispanic heritage and how it is viewed. Once an unquestioned American hero, Columbus worship has (rightly) begun falling out of favor, and fast, in a modern society that prefers more forthright and inclusive readings of history.
This same redefinition and rebalancing act has been taking place for decades within and between Spain and its former colonies. What had previously always been termed a discovery or a conquest and cast in the heroic light of wind-tossed explorers and glittering conquistadors is now referred to as el encuentro—an encountering, a meeting of peoples (albeit an unbalanced one), a mutual discovering of worlds. Españoles and hispanos alike are working to acknowledge the truths of their shared past and trying to find ways to move beyond it, to free themselves and each other of old stereotypes, that each may today, looking back, acknowledge and appreciate the other’s contributions to what is now a shared heritage.
But how, exactly, to go about it? How do we come to grips with Columbus, say? This man without whom many of us would likely not be here? El Día de la Raza and other proposed indigenous peoples’ days represent an attempt to answer that question. And how to celebrate Hispanic heritage, when that heritage contains examples of both horrible violence, oppression, and exploitation and wonderful meldings of culture, art, cuisine, etc.? How can a cohesive picture of “heritage” be formed without denying either the good or the bad?
The answer, of course, is flexibility and a willingness to examine our values and put them into practice. We must preserve those elements of this nebulous thing called “heritage” that we value and be willing to leave behind traditions or mindsets that no longer satisfy our moral and ethical evolution and standards.
But because we live in a society, this flexibility must be present at both the individual and collective levels. It is my opinion that the collective can be more readily and fully changed working from the ground up, laying its foundation on individuals’ capacity for mindful improvement. In this spirit, I share an excerpt that discusses incorporating changing values to the preservation or modification of our traditions in a family or household setting:
Examine your family’s traditions. What are the rituals, customs, and traditions that now define your household? Which ones are accidental — the ones that have been passed along from generation to generation without being examined? Are they the traditions you want? If not, what new ones will you invent? What legacy of traditions would you like to see passed along by your children to their children?
One useful tradition is a custom of examining traditions. All family members can participate in identifying current traditions, questioning them, and then deciding which ones to keep, which to discard, and which to modify. This can be a very enlightening exercise for your gifted children. It can show them that certain family customs, such as procrastinating or being judgmental of others, can perhaps be discarded, while other traditions clearly have value and meaning for family members and are worth keeping.
One of the most liberating realizations is that you have the power to create your own new traditions. Each family member can be involved in the process of defining or re-defining the things that are most important to them.
— A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children, 1st edition, pages 230-231.
From this individual reexamination of values and traditions, hopefully ripples of societal improvement can spread.
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And now, over to you. What are some traditions you would love to see preserved for future generations, and what do you consider outdated nonsense you’re just itching to scrap?