Celebrating the National Hispanic Heritage Month

The Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States is almost over, and a lot have brought out their  sombreros and have a fiesta!

¡Hola, chicos y chicas! It’s the time of year to celebrate the National Hispanic Heritage Month, a time when America honors the great and numerous contributions that the Latino Americans and the Hispanics made to its culture and traditions.

The Hispanic Heritage celebrations began in 1968, when President Lyndon Johnson declared the week covering September 15 and 16 as Hispanic Heritage Week. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan stretched it out into a month-long celebration beginning on September 15 and ending on October 15. It was also enacted into law in the same year.

Cutting the cake in celebration of the National Hispanic Heritage Month    

The month of September marks the independence of several Latin American countries from their Spanish colonizers; Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua on the 15^th; Mexico, Chile and Belize on the 16^th, 18^th and 21^st, respectively. The duration of celebration also coincides with the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1942.

So what better time to honor the Latin Americans who have greatly contributed to American culture and progress, making it the rich and colorful nation that it is now!

The Hispanics have been in the United States as early as 1565, in the fortress of St. Augustine in Florida, the first continuous settlement made by Europeans in North America. It was founded decades earlier than the settlement in Jamestown in Virginia. The Hispanics had a small outpost that they had built in Alta California in San Francisco in 1176. They were also in Texas when it was still a separate province, where the vaqueros or cowboys found work in the cattle ranches.

Double Ten, an auspicious number for our Chinese brothers and sisters

A symbol often seen during the National Day of the Republic of China on 10 October (stylized version of character 卄).

October 10^th or Double Ten, a number combination that gives out happy thoughts and feelings. If you ever wondered why clocks and watches displayed at stores are always set at 10 minutes after 10, it is because when you look at the clock’s face, the hour and minute hands in that position make a happy or a smiling face.

Clock 10-10

For our Chinese brothers and sisters, it’s a national holiday, a day of remembrance, a day for celebration. For it was on this day in 1911 when the dynastic rule over China and the resentment of the people towards the government at that time were put to an end. October 10, 1911 – the day the more than 2,000-year reign of the Qing Dynasty ended. It was also the beginning of the formation of the republican form of government in mainland China.

Many types of activities are staged during the celebration of the Double Ten, but it is not just fun and aplomb all the time, because before it became a national day of celebration, a long and grim history enveloped this specific date.

Double Ten Day, what is it?

Canadian Thanksgiving: Tracing its Origins

Canada celebrates Thanksgiving every second Monday of October. The celebration, as we know it today, keeps the essence of being grateful for a bountiful harvest received. It also mirrors deep faith and gratitude to a supreme being that protects, blesses, and listens to every citizen's prayers.

Thanksgiving dinner in Canada

The origins of Thanksgiving have been subject to much debate and argument. The Americans claim that the tradition began with them; however, Canadians say that their Thanksgiving celebrations are closely associated with their European roots. Early Europeans have had a tradition of holding festivals of thanks after harvest time. This takes place in October. Additionally, the first North American Thanksgiving celebrations happened in Canada in the year 1578. An English explorer named Martin Frobisher set foot at Newfoundland and wanted to offer his gratefulness for his safe passage and arrival into the New World. This would mean that the initial Thanksgiving in Canada happened 43 years earlier than the time the American pilgrims first arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The Ideophones, Bling bling, kira kira, dugeun dugeun (What do these words have in common?)

Words are truly fascinating. We’ve all known that without words people would not be able to communicate. And words are learned since childhood, from parents, siblings, friends then teachers, slowly building a lexicon that allows one to construct cohesive and intelligent sentences.

Bling bling hip hop jewelry

And discovering new words, even foreign ones is a delight. It somehow bridges the communication gap, when new and foreign words are added to your personal dictionary, particularly since globalization makes the world shrink, figuratively speaking, just a little bit.

Even if you do not have the patience to learn a new language, or you do not have the propensity for languages, you would eventually come across words that give you a vivid impression of things akin to action, color, sound, and movement. These words are called ideophones. You might not be aware of the term, but you have surely used some of the words that belong to this category. Though rarely found in languages in the Western world, ideophones are quite common in several languages of the world. For specific clarification, the word class in which ideophones belong is called phonosemantic. It sounds a bit technical, especially for a layman who only uses words because they are there and universally known, without delving deeper into word classes, etymology and grammar rules.

Money Talk and Insurance Speak (In the “interest” of learning where the terms came from)

images of various US dollars    

The word “interest” came from the Anglo-French term interesse used during the late 14^th century, which translates to “what one has a legal concern in.” The term in turn came from the Middle Latin word interesse” that is equivalent to “compensation for loss.” In the mid-15^th century, the word was used to mean, “concern,” “advantage,” “benefit” and even “legal right or claim.” Later, in the financial sense it became the term to define “the money that is paid for the use of the money that was lent.”

So in the “interest” of knowing where these common present-day money, banking and finance terms originated, let us trace their history of origin, since some of them may sound Greek, er, Latin, I mean, to you.

The language of finance and insurance is filled with many terms that may sound intimidating to some, while it translates to dollars and cents to others. What is interesting to note is that many of these terms and words used often have quite a unique etymology.