Puerto Rican Lifestyles

They celebrate Christmas as their ancestors did, which is Posada and the Holy Night. Posada is between December 16th and Holy Night December 24th. Family members and friends act out when St. Joseph and Virgin Mary were looking for lodging. All Mexicans go to church to attend midnight Mass. After the mass the family gathers at home and have a family dinner. Mexican Christmas Eve is all about family, love, sharing, happiness and joy. The children do not receive presents on Christmas Day

Being Hispanic to me means traditions. It means my home and my loving family. Being Hispanic also means being hard working. I was born in a humble small town in Michoacan, Mexico. My parents decided to come to the United States looking for a better future for our family. They had to leave the land that had watched them grow in order to come to an unknown land, where the future was a giant blur. But what they didn’t leave behind was their love for their native country. I grew up in a household where Spanish was only spoken and tortillas were always at the table. I grew up loving authentic Mexican food and speaking Spanish fluently. When I was in kindergarten my teacher was afraid that I would be behind the rest of my classmates. My parents couldn't help me learn English since they didn’t know it either. I was fortunate to have a kind teacher who was willing to tutor me for free everyday after school. By the end of elementary school my English improved. As I grew

Hispanic heritage is an important concept that surrounds my entire life. I have lived in Colombia until I turned fourteen years old. Colombia is a beautiful country in South America and consist of mostly Hispanic individuals. This culture has been important in my life because it helps define who I am and how I view the world. It was not until I moved to the United States that I began to become more aware of different ethnic groups. I grew up in a city where everyone was the same, looked the same and had the same cultural behaviors in our country.

Puerto Rican culture is very unique and diverse and is mainly influenced by its past. It is a melting pot of Taino Indian, Spanish, African, and American cultures, which is what makes Puerto Rico unique. Puerto Rican music, clothing, food, traditions, holidays, languages, and religions are all influenced from the diversity of the population. The official languages are Spanish and English because of the long period of time when Spain ruled and then later, when it became U.S. territory. The majority of the population of Puerto Rico is also Roman Catholic or Protestant again, because it was ruled by the Spanish Crown for over an extended period of time.

Their family got together every opportunity they could. They had many traditional things they did as a family such as a gathering of family every year for her grandmother’s death, but as a celebration. Every year on Christmas Eve her family would also draw together to exchange gifts at different relative’s houses. The interviewee stated this became a tradition for her family because the married people in the family had to attend festivities at their spouses’ relatives. English and Spanish are both spoken in the Hispanics households. The majority of the older members of the family only speak Spanish. My interviewee stated that she did not know how to speak Spanish, but her mother did and fluently. She stated that her mother has always told her that she needed to know Spanish because that was her heritage, but she never felt it very necessary. The Hispanic culture celebrates the coming of age which is called a 15 or Quinceaneras. The Quinceanernas is usually a big production for the girls. The girls have escorts and dress in a formal type ballroom dress and have many of her friends and relatives there for the celebration. My interviewee stated that she did not have a Quinceaneras because she did not really get into it. She also stated that she got pregnant and did not want her parents to spend all that money for the celebration. The boys on the other hand do not go all out with this type of celebration, but instead celebrate at their

Hispanic parents are known for many different characteristics and habits that make their children’s lives unique to other cultures. Such as how in order to go out you had to slave away the day before or even hours before in order

Holidays are an important part of Latino culture, some holidays relate to the religious, while others relate to anniversaries of major battles in Mexican history. All the major catholic holidays are celebrated by Latinos such as Christmas, Lent and Easter as well as the Catholic rites of passage Baptism, Holy Communion, and Confirmation.

Throughout my life, being Hispanic has always meant family and unity. I was born into a Mexican family on my mother's side; we would often gather together for family parties, events, and holidays. Our lives are intertwined with each other; if something significant happened to an individual in the family, a majority of the family would be involved. My family usually gathers together to celebrate major holidays, but this past year I witnessed relatives assembling during a difficult farewell.

My parents have always introduced me to all types of food. The type of food I eat is one of the ways that I feel closely ties me to the mexican side of my culture. Mexican food is my favorite. I love how spicy it can be. One tradition

| The attitudes and customs of Hispanics have a major presence on music, food, holidays, dance, and arts here in the United States. The Hispanic families in the United States are traditionally close-knit groups, and Spanish speakers are quite formal toward each other when speaking.

The commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico), known to most Americans as simply Puerto Rico, exists as one of two territories owned by the United States1. Being a territory of the United States, Puerto Ricans possess common citizenship, currency, and defense. However, even though Puerto Ricans are United States citizens they do not pay any kind of federal income taxes. Therefore, they cannot vote in presidential elections. Puerto Rico is under the jurisdiction of the United States customs, and are allowed free movement of people and merchandise with the United States. They have established their own constitution, and have a greater amount of independence than possessions. Although

One of the families assessed for this assignment was a first generation Mexican American family originally from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The family consists of a young couple and two young children. Religiosity plays a big part in the lifestyle of this Mexican American family and this was evident in the rosaries worn by the couple. The couple regularly attends a local Roman Catholic Church for spiritual renewal and to pray for good health. Like other Catholics, they believe sickness is a sign of spiritual weakness and whenever individuals are sick members of the family pray for them (O’Brien, 2011). The family strongly prefers to prepare its own food, and its favorite dishes are traditional Latin American cuisines such as Chile, tamales and tortillas. Latin American cuisines are high in calories, high in salt, cooked in grease or deep fried, and contain lots of flour. When the family cannot cook they usually eat out, mostly in Mexican restaurants. Mexican Americans have a strong attachment to their families so they talk to their parents and siblings on an almost daily basis. Members of the family interviewed also communicate with their cousins, uncles, and aunts back in Mexico through online social media such as Facebook and WhatsApp. Communication between the couple and with other family members is almost always in Spanish.

One of these is that on Thanksgiving everybody comes together to my parents’ house in New Jersey for a huge feast. On Christmas only my mother and the children (me and my brother) travel to Illinois to spend a week with my grandparents. On New Years Eve we all get together at my parents’ house in New Jersey and toast to the New Year with champagne and apple cider. During Labor Day weekend all of my family travels to South Jersey to my grandfathers’ condo. We usually spend all of our time on the beach and barbequing, except on Sunday when we go to church. After all, my grandfather is a minister. One of our biggest family traditions is going back to Puerto Rico. Every year my mother and I travel back to Puerto Rico for a portion of our summer vacation. Now that I am older I travel there more often and stay there much longer. My father never joins because he doesn’t like my mothers side of the father too much and he thinks that we when we speak Spanish we are all plotting against him. Of course that’s not true though. My bother doesn’t speak Spanish so he doesn’t like to go either. I guess that tradition is one that belongs solely to my mother and I.

Since my family lived so close together, we had many family traditions that remain important. We gather for nearly every holiday for a meal and routine. For Easter every year, we have an Easter egg hunt and dinner at my grandmother’s house. For Christmas Eve, we always went to my great-grandparents house and had dinner and exchanged gifts. For Christmas, we celebrated at home, and then went to my grandmother's for breakfast with our cousins. The importance of all of the holidays we celebrated was that no matter what was going on in our lives,

Family reunion time was the best. We celebrated the life of our family each year in July rather we missed one another or not. Our gathering together to swap stories, play games and eat could be compared to a weekend at the state fair. I mainly appreciated this time because of the food. My grandmother was the cook of the