South Fraser Street in downtown State College was filled with live Latin American music, dancing, costumes, food, art and flags on Saturday for the Happy Valley Latin Festival. Attendees said it let them reconnect with their heritage and share their culture with others.
“I love the food, so we have a bunch of our own fruits, like pitanga, and goiaba,” said Tomé Guenka, who grew up in Braisília, Brazil. “We have music as well. I love Brazilian music, it can be viola caipira, it can be Brazilian funk. So all these parts coming together, that makes the whole image.”
Guenka lived in Brazil until he was 26 before coming to Penn State to get his PhD.
He says he misses home, but has made a home here.
“I miss the basic stuff. I miss the big events, like Carnaval. I miss food, parties. But I love it here as well, so it’s part of the process,” Guenka said.
Josefina Lara Azócar is from Santiago de Chile, and she said September is an especially important month for not only Hispanic Heritage, but also when Chileans celebrate their independence day.
“It’s like a giant party where people meet. We have this traditional dance called cueca that has music that accompanies it, and the dresses are just really nice. We do these giant barbecues. We have all these games,” she said. “It’s very family oriented, very community-driven. It’s a lot of fun. My parents actually came up for it and we had a barbecue in my apartment.”
She says the Latin Festival carries a similar spirit.
“Basically, different student orgs here at Penn State set up booths,” Lara Azócar said. “You can sell food. You can just talk about your culture. You can promote your org. Every single Latin American country has an org here. It’s just a good way to work together.”
Justice Peña Berman says Chicano family traditions in Texas continue to shape his life into adulthood.
“My great-uncles were all mariachis. They would be serenading people in the morning, singing songs like Las Mañanitas on Mother’s Day or their birthdays. That’s something me and my brothers now also do for our family. We carry that on. That’s something I really treasure a lot,” Peña Berman said.
Family closeness, he said, is equally important.
“The meaningfulness of our relationships, they’re not really transactional. That’s something very important to our culture,” he said.
Peña Berman also said honoring ancestors is an important part of their culture.
“Whether that’s visiting them at their cemeteries or making ofrendas, I think that’s a really beautiful connection with our past,” Peña Berman said.
The Paul Robeson Cultural Center at Penn State currently has a couple of ofrendas on display. Peña Berman said he appreciates the Latin Festival because it brings everyone together.
“There is that shared history in the language and the effects of colonization, the struggles, but also the positive,” he said. “The festival gives us a chance to enjoy ourselves, to smile, to dance, to celebrate all the different aspects of our cultures. And it also brings us together to have those conversations and friendships that sustain us wherever we are.”