Page 14 - ISI_163_AugustSeptember

PAGE 14 SPOTLIGHTS
Celebrating Hispanic Americans
BY CARRIE SCOZZARO
Bill Contreraz was really looking forward
to the annual Mexican Fiesta in his native
Billings this year.
“One of the big things about the Fiesta
is it’s an opportunity to get together with
friends and family you may not have seen
in any other setting,” says Contreraz, who
has 20 grandchildren ages 4 through 21. All
but two of them live nearby. “A lot of have
grown up [in Billings], but life travels have
taken them elsewhere.”
It would have been the 67th annual such
event, which Contreraz’ parents established
in the ‘50s to help raise money for their
church, Our Lady of Guadalupe. They also
helped build the church, which Contreraz and
his family still attend even as it has morphed
into a vast parish comprising three Catholic
churches now called Mary Queen of Peace.
“My earliest participation in that fiesta
I was about 5 or 6 years old—and me and
other little kids’ job was to take the nails
from prior year’s booths to make the booths
for the next year,” says Contreraz, who
credits the Fiesta with teaching and rein-
forcing culture through such activities as
dance and music.
The event showcases Mexican food,
dance, music, clothing, language, and tra-
ditions,. It doesn’t just give back to the
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Although plans for this year’s Latino
Fest in Boise are still to be determined, some
events are moving forward.
As of this writing, the Hispanic Cultural
Center will host the play, Tears for La Llorona,
in September. It’s a retelling of a popular
Mexican folktale about a weeping woman who
roams the night seeking her lost children. The
Many events celebrating Hispanic culture take place HCC was also behind a recent mural painting
in the fall, specifically September 15-October 15, project, “Cultural Resilience,” Quetzalcoatl:
which has been the U. S. government’s official rec- Aztec flying serpent, god of wisdom, guardian
ognition of Hispanic Heritage Month. © BestVector, of earth and sky, and is open to the public
Bigstock.com.
with an exhibit about the 21st century history
church; it is one of a handful of celebrations of Hispanic farmworkers (visit Facebook:
across the Northwest sharing Mexican cul- HispanicCulturalCenterofIdaho).
ture with—and in some cases introducing Many events celebrating Hispanic
it to—the wider majority. culture take place in the fall, specifically
Similar events take place in Idaho, where September 15-October 15, which has been
Mexican culture is especially well-rep- the U. S. government’s official recognition
resented in southern and southeastern of Hispanic Heritage Month since 1988,
communities. With an estimated Spanish- when then-president Ronald Reagan signed
speaking population three times larger than the recognition into law.
Montana, Idaho also has a comparatively The month-long proclamation grew from
robust foundation of support in such orga- Hispanic Heritage Week, which president
nizations as the Idaho Hispanic Chamber of Lyndon Johnson created in 1968, a reminder
Commerce and the Idaho Commission on that the presidential pulpit is a powerful one,
Hispanic Affairs, which, in the ‘90s, laid the especially when it comes to matters of culture
foundation for the creation of the Hispanic and ethnicity. President Trump reauthorized
Cultural Center in Nampa, Idaho. the proclamation in 2019.
Since 2015, for example, Latino Fest has Although well-intentioned, National
drawn huge crowds the state capital, Boise, Hispanic Heritage Month is faced with
where Mexico operates a consulate, one of the challenge of being all-encompassing
56 such outposts across 28 states. for a broad swath of people only loosely
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