World-Class Latin Culture & Global Roots

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

National Puerto Rican Day Parade: Somos Más Que 100×35

America’s biggest cultural celebration plants the flag on Fifth Avenue this Sunday. It’s the climax of New York Puerto Rico Week.

Don’t miss Daddy Yankee, Anthony Ramos, Miss Universe Dayanara Torres, and more. Don’t forget your bandera más bonita. ¡WEPA! More…

New York Latin Culture Brings People Together All Year Long

Things to do in NYC in June, Pride Month (Alexander Grey/Pexels)

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Ẹ kú ọdún, ẹ kú ìyèdún

Yoruba New Year (Terver/Adobe)

A Yoruba Happy New Year blessing. The late-May, early June onset of the rainy season in Yorubaland (Nigeria/Benin/Togo) sprouts new crops. This rebirth is celebrated with the World Ifá Festival in the sacred ancestral city of Ile-Ifẹ̀, the cradle of Yoruba civilization where the Yoruba world was created. Yoruba New Year’s Day is June 3.

The collapse of West Africa’s Oyo Empire from 1817-1835 forced large numbers of Yoruba into the Middle Passage as that horror was beginning to end. Many landed in Cuba and Puerto Rico which were booming.

So Yoruba culture came to dominate previous African lineages in the Caribbean. We call it Lucumí from the Yoruba greeting Oluku mi, which means “my friend.” Cuban mutual aid societies, Cabildos Africanos, were able to preserve the traditions which evolved into Cuban rumba, son Cubano, and Afro-Cuban jazz.

Elsewhere, Yoruba traditions evolved into South Carolina’s Gullah culture and some American folklore, Brazilian Candomblé, Uruguayan candombe, Argentine tango, and Puerto Rican salsa which are loved around the world. Aché.

This is the unspoken reason why we celebrate the 152nd Street Festival, South Bronx Culture Festival, Bronx Puerto Rican Parade, at the end of May.

In Yoruba/Lucumí tradition, before we begin something, we ask God’s messenger Eleguá, Orisha of the crossroads, to open the road. We ask for a blessing, just like we do before we sing and dance salsa today. Many salsas begin with the call to Eleguá: E-le-le, le-le-le…

So around ten days after Yoruba new year in June, we pay our respects to Eleguá. That is why we celebrate the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, America’s largest cultural celebration, in the second week of June. ¡WEPA!

Festivals

George Floyd RIP (Karu Thompson/Dreamstime)
Toussaint L'Ouverture statue in Joux, France where he was murdered. (Pierre Jean Durieu/Dreamstime)
Cuban Independence Day (Javier Gonzalez Leyva/Dreamstime)
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¿What is Latin?

LATIN CULTURE

Latin means many things to many people, but our definition is the mix of Indigenous, European, African, and Asian cultures in the Americas ~ leaning into a Caribbean perspective.

The First Nations of the Americas are Indigenous Peoples who built advanced civilizations including: Mississippian (Cahokia), Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi), Maya, Aztec, Inca, and more. Outside the U.S., Indigenous culture remains strong. This is the unifying foundation of our concept of Latin.

Then, to quote salsa and Latin jazz legend Eddie Palmieri, “The Spaniard brought the African. The African put everyone to dance. In the States, they took away the drum, and we got the blues.”

The blues is the root of gospel, jazz, and R&B. Those are the roots of country, rock, pop, reggae, soul, Latin soul, funk, salsa, disco, house, rap, and trap; basically the popular music and dances of the U.S. and parts of the Caribbean.

In the Americas, Indigenous or African culture now dominates. Regions that are more Indigenous, remember and respect our African heritage too.

The sum of these traditions influenced the world. Even K-Pop is based on R&B and rap. Many traditions come back and get remixed.

Caribbean

Antiguan and Barbudan, Bahamian, Barbadian, Cuban, Dominican, Garifuna, Grenadian, Haitian, Jamaican, Puerto Rican, Trinidadian, Vincentian

North American

African American, Belizean, Costa Rican, French Canadian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Panamanian, Salvadoran

South American

Argentine, Bolivian, Brazilian, Chilean, Colombian, Ecuadorian, French Guianese, Guyanese, Paraguayan, Peruvian, Surinamese, Uruguayan, Venezuelan

GLOBAL ROOTS

European

The horror of the Colonial Era is over (or should be), yet it still devils us. On the other hand, European thinkers formed the Enlightenment ~ from Islamic, Native American, and Chinese ideas. Even in Europe, there is no pure anything. We are all mixed.

British, French, Italian, Irish, Dutch, Jewish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish

West African

Africa is Mother, the mother of all humanity. A lot of Latin culture has African origins. That’s equally true of American culture where the Jazz Age defines us. Much of today’s global youth culture has African origins through New York.

Beninese, Bissau-Guinean, Gambian, Ghanian, Ivorian, Guinean, Liberian, Malian, Nigerian, Senegalese, Sierra Leonean, Togolese, Yoruba

Central African

Angolan, Cameroonian, Congo Brazzaville, Congo Kinshasa, Equatorial Guinean, Gabonese, Guinean

East African

Kenyan, Mozambican, Ugandan

Southern African

South African

Asian

Arab traditions, like the Puerto Rican pandereta, came to the Americas through Africa. After abolition, some Asian communities came as indentured workers. Recent migrations also contributed to Latin culture.

Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean

Latin is various blends of all of the above, and New York City is our capital. Latin culture brings people together, and that is what makes New York The Greatest Show on Earth. ¡WEPA!

E-le-le, le-le-le… Ay! San Miguel