October is a month in Virginia where the temperatures begin to cool, the leaves begin to change, and the harvest of rich culture in our American story shows its roots. These roots are strong and mixed. The native Taino people first encountered Latin European and Spanish speaking people through the voyages of Christopher Columbus. This moment at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century brought great changes to our world.
Who were the first Europeans to mix with indigenous peoples in North America?
October 14th is celebrated both as Columbus Day and as Indigenous Peoples Day this year because it is the closest Monday to the October 12th anniversary of Christopher Columbus seeing land in North America for the first time in 1492. It is also a time period where we recognize the birth of Latino culture in America because the men from Spain almost immediately fathered children with the American native women creating a culture known as “mestizo” or mixed. Latino culture is a unique group of Hispanic people comprising ancestry from all the peoples who were native as well as Spanish speaking immigrants to North America.
September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic American Heritage Month
The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society. Hispanic Heritage Month
As a Latina immigrant from Bolivia I would like to share a perspective of personal culture. My mother speaks Quichua, and my grandparents too, it is a language that is spoken more by older people, almost no one speaks it anymore, only older people. It is interesting to know more about other cultures or other religions, so that you are more informed, but since now we are all together, from all countries, knowing a little more about each one is interesting. I realize now that my Latina culture is Hispanic culture mixing with native cultures.
https://www.britannica.com/place/Bolivia/Early-period