5 Excellent Ways to Celebrate the Latino Lifestyle

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The word "Latino" is a little ambiguous. It generally means someone of Latin American origins, but that might include several different subcategories. Someone might consider themselves Latino and be Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, or several others.

These ethnicities have certain things in common, but they're each unique as well. It makes little sense to lump them all in together, but many people who consider themselves Latino take pride in that. 

Maybe they were born in America, but lots of them feel proud of their heritage. Some of them go back to the country where their parents or grandparents were born to visit so they can feel more connected to their ethnic roots.

Others like to find ways to celebrate the Latino lifestyle here in America. There are definitely all kinds of ways that you might do it if you consider yourself to be Latino, and we'll talk about some possibilities in this article.

You Can Take a Trip

You might take a trip with your family so that all of you can feel closer to one another. In Latino culture, family counts for a lot. That's why, if you start dating someone with Latin American origins, don't let it surprise you if they have lots of siblings and other relatives around them frequently.

You can draw closer together as a family and celebrate not just your ethnic identity but also the fact that you are there for each other. That's vital for so many people now, not just Latinos, with the pandemic causing such sadness and hardship over the past couple of years.

You can take a trip to all kinds of different places here in the US. The pandemic restricts travel to other countries to some extent right now, but there's no reason not to enjoy some great American destination spots. For instance, you might check out Branson, Missouri, where there are spectacular dinner shows.

You Can Have a Family Reunion

You might also celebrate your Latino culture and heritage by organizing and taking part in a family reunion. This can be a way to see some relatives that you haven't seen in many years.

Maybe you live several states away from one another, and setting up a family reunion will be a way to reconnect. You might not be sure what some of your cousins, aunts, or uncles are doing. This will be a way to re-establish closer ties.

Maybe you can call them if you have their numbers, or you might use social media to figure out where and when to do it. You might be Facebook friends with some of your distant relatives, for instance.

You may be able to arrange for some of your relatives who live in other countries to see you. That's a way to not just stay in touch but perhaps learn about Mexico, Puerto Rico, or any other country from which your family originated.

You'll have to determine whether your home is big enough to accommodate all the people who you want to invite. If you can't manage it, you might rent out a restaurant or some other venue.

You Can Attend a Latino Pride Parade

In many major cities, Latino pride parades happen. For example, there is a huge Puerto Rican Day in New York City, complete with floats, dancing, ethnic food, and so forth. Even those who are not Puerto Rican love attending and learning all about the culture.

If there is such an event happening in your city, you can get all of your relatives to attend. If you've got young children, this is a way to teach them about who they are and where they come from if they've never actually been to Puerto Rico or whatever other country your ancestors identify as their homeland.

If you need to travel to go to such a parade, that would be fine too. You can look into open hotels or hostels right now that have prices that sound reasonable to you.

You Can Have a Block Party

You might decide that you want to teach your neighbors about your Latino origins as well. You might ask the town or city in which you live if you can set up a block party.

You can do it on the weekend, and maybe you can cordon off the street, so traffic does not roll through for a few hours. You can set up booths with games and native food that comes from your culture.

Your neighbors will probably appreciate the opportunity to learn about a new culture, and they will doubtless love eating some ethnic foods they've never tried before. You might even try to get a live band to play some music from your country of origin.

You Can See Some Shows or Movies from Your Country of Origin

If you want to learn more about your culture and celebrate it, you might see if you can find some TV shows or movies that are Latino-oriented. There are some that come out here in the US with Latino connections, but that's not the same as getting ones that actually come from your country and are in your native language.

For instance, you might find some telenovela-style shows online and watch them with your family. If you speak the language, this is a way to brush up on it if you don't speak it very well or all the time.

The shows and movies from your Latino country of origin will teach you more about your culture's ways and sensibilities. You can certainly find just about anything online right now or through streaming services, so this is not unrealistic at all.

There are many different large and small ways to celebrate your Latino origins. You can do some of the things we suggested or all of them. If some of them sound too expensive or elaborate, you can also just find an ethnic restaurant with your family and have a nice meal there.