La Semana Santa Is the Spanish Name for Holy Week

My family ritual is that we celebrate Dia de Los Tres Reyes Magos, translating to the Epiphany in English, every year either by ourselves or with family friends. We celebrate the Three Kings arriving to visit the baby Jesus and present gifts to him. To me, this holiday is better than Christmas. Why? The night before the holiday, I put my shoe out in a visible area and sometimes even put a bowl of oatmeal next to it. On the day of the holiday, I wake up to my shoe overflowing with presents and all the oatmeal gone. The belief behind this is that the Three Kings visited my house and left presents. The oatmeal was for the camels because I cared about the King’s camels getting enough food to travel and leave presents for everyone as they did for

Dia de Los Muertos, also known as the Day of the Dead, is an internationally recognized Mexican holiday which consists of the gatherings of friends and family to honor those who have passed. Similar rituals commemorating those who have deceased are believed to have began around 3,000 years ago. Dia de Los Muertos takes place three days from October 31st to November 2nd. October 31st is known as All Hallows Eve and is a time when the children invite the spirits of deceased children to come back. November 1st is All Saints Day and is when the adult spirits are said to return. November 2nd is All Souls Day and is when families go and decorate the graves of their lost loved ones. The building of private altars in cemeteries containing the

The Catholics celebrate this holiday by going to a midnight mass service on Christmas Eve called the 'Misa De Gallo' or the mass of the rooster. The tradition of Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, was first witnessed by a Galician woman named Egeria, who went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land (381 AC). She witnessed how the early Christians honored the birth of Jesus with a midnight vigil at Bethlehem, followed by a procession that ended at dawn, when roosters crow. This tradition

Christianity and Wicca (Paganism/Neo-Paganism), what do you know about these two religions? When I was growing up I believed in the Christian beliefs; however I now practice Wicca. Look closely at the Christian religion and notice how similar it is to Wicca. Although denied by most Christians the similarities are there because “Christianity began in the middle of Pagan culture” (Kane, p. 12). Is the origin of Christianity based on ancient Pagan beliefs or is it wholly original?

In the final resolution concerning religion, Chicanas declare, “Revolutionary change of [the] Catholic Church or for it to get out of the way.”

The belief in the afterlife involved with this holiday is very similar to that of the mesoamericans. The aztecs in particular had a month long celebration, very similar to that of Day of the Dead, in which they honored and delivered offerings to the deceased. When the spaniards arrived they did a fair job of popularizing their faith among the mesoamericans. The mesoamericans moved their month long celebration of death to coincide with the catholic holidays of All Saints and All Souls(November 1st and 2nd). Today, Day of the Dead is about celebrating death by creating altars carpeted with offerings to the souls of loved ones. Today, an iconic symbol of Día de los Muertos is the skeleton, one of the most significant skeleton characters is La Catrina. Day of the Dead is now picking up bits and pieces of Halloween tradition. Children are now participating in pedir los muertos, or ask the dead, during which children dress in costumes and meander, receiving candy as well as things from people’s day of the dead altars, in some places.

Walking into the cemetery, I noticed that the night shined brighter than the day and the music was more alive than ever. I could hear the song, “Puno de Tierra” by Ramon Ayala, playing in the background and there were many families gathered around the graves of their loved ones. I could smell the fresh copal burning into the air and I noticed that my uncles tumba (tomb) looked cleaner than any other day. His grave was decorated with marigolds, candy skulls, pan de muertos, and white candles along with a few of his favorite foods and a portrait of him placed in the middle for everyone to see. Then, I suddenly open my eyes to see myself sitting down on a sofa from our living room, and in the background I heard my grandmother continuously repeating

The overall culture and society in Mexico is greatly influenced by Catholic traditions that have been practiced for generations. These traditions are looked at as social events in Mexican communities (Hoffman 258). A quinceñera is one Catholic rite of passage that is considered to be an important milestone as it represents the transition of a girl into a woman on her fifteenth birthday. Friends and family are expected to attend Catholic ceremonies such as these despite any religious affiliation because of how intertwined Catholicism is with Mexican society (Euan Alvarado). This connection means that the majority of religious Mexicans are Catholic, and makes it difficult for other religions to grow. The Catholic Church also creates a sense of

For this Hispanic Heritage Month Paper I chose the Inventor Guillermo González Camarena who invented the first color TV screen. The life of Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena started in Guadalajara on February 17, 1917. When Guillermo was 2 years old he moved to Mexico City where as a young boy he made electrically propelled toys and at 12 he constructed his first amatuer radio. When Guillermo was young he established a laboratory in the basement of his house! In 1930 he was selected to go to the School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineers and after two years was given permit as a radio administrator. While he tested in his research facility, he worked at the radio station of the Ministry of Education. In 1934 he fabricated his own TV camera when

This past Wednesday, October 12th, I had the opportunity to visit a photo exhibit that was being displayed at Plaza de la Raza. The photo exhibit was dedicated to those actors and actresses that have put the Latino talent in Hollywood. The photo exhibit is part of the Hispanic Month, and from September 1st to October 15th we have forty-five glorious days to celebrate it. In Los Angeles, the Hispanic Month is also being addressed as Latino Heritage Month LA. This is a month where the people from Los Angeles get together to celebrate their traditions and culture with other Angelenos along with the people around the world who come to LA during this time as well.

Before the miracle of birth, pregnant women must deal with quite a bit of discomfort. Pains, swelling, hormonal changes. A woman’s skeletal and muscular system have to adapt as a baby grows in the womb and creates a new center of gravity. As this happens the muscles of the expecting mother must work much harder to keep her standing upright. The progression of this then creates a lactic acid as well as toxin build up and causes toxins to make muscle fibers stick together. This in turn irritates the nerve endings and creates pain. Lower back pain is a common example of this and upper back pain due to growth in breast size during the first trimester.

“Media bias refers to the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media. A political bias in journalistic reporting, in programming selection, or otherwise in mass communications media is an example of media bias.” Accusations of media bias in the United States include alleges of liberal bias, conservative bias, mainstream bias, and corporate bias. A large amount of watchdog organizations that try to find the details behind both biased reporting and unproven alleges of bias were founded to prevent this.

The Last Supper (found in gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke) is the final meal that jesus shared with his disciples before his crucifixion. The Last supper was presented like a passover meal, traditional hymns were sung, and traditional prayers were spoken as Jesus passed around the matzot (passover bread). Among these Jewish traditions Jesus added the words while breaking the bread “This is my Body, which will be given up for you” and while passing around the wine Jesus said “This is my blood, which will be poured out for you”. From these words and actions, stems the creation of the Eucharist that we know today. In the view of the passover, Jesus became the sacrificial lamb, his blood covered the wood of his crucifix just as the sacrificial

The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is an allegory that uses animals with human characteristics in order to portray the moral of the story. The story centers on a rooster named Chanticleer, who possesses many human qualities, such as speaking, singing, and the ability to dream. Partlet, a hen, is described as “polite, discreet, debonair, and companionable” (153). These are characteristics not typically associated with animals, which strengthens the message that the animals are representative of humans. Furthermore, Chanticleer and the other animals display human emotions, such as Chanticleer’s fear of his dream, Partlet’s disgust of Chanticleer’s fear, and the love that Chanticleer and Partlet feel for one another. Furthermore, the fox, Sir Russell, also

Semana Santa, also known as Holy Week, is a famous holiday celebrated in many Spanish speaking countries. Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia, and Spain are a few for example. Every country celebrates this holiday in a unique way. This holiday usually lasts for one week starting from Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos) through Easter Sunday (Pascua). During the week, there are daily mass services in the Catholic Church. The seven main days are: Palm Sunday, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.