Cultural Diversity, Mexican Style / Diversidad Cultural, Estilo Mexico

Cultural diversity is one of the trademarks of my office. When I started working here in 1999, this was the office which housed all the cases for customers that needed interpreters. There were employes speaking 42 different languages! I was very impressed to see that many countries were represented at the office and was excited to start my career with the County in an environment where diversity is not only welcomed but one in which we are encouraged to share our backgrounds and culture - how wonderful!


From the celebration of Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, in January (the date varies depending on the lunar calendar), Black History Month in February, and the Cambodian/Lao Lunar New Year in April, to celebrating Philippines' Independence  Day in June and our own Independence day on the Fourth of July, my office fosters acceptance of all and unity among employees. Cultural diversity has been a major part of my personal and professional growth. I cherish all the things I can learn from my coworkers and also love to share my culture and traditions which is why this year, the Mexican-American employees organized a Second Annual Mexican Cultural Event this past September 10th. We were very happy to share a little bit of our culture through our exhibits, pictures, traditional vestments, music and, of course, delicious food.

This year our theme was food, so we had a representation of a Mexican mercado (market) in which we wanted to showcase produce from Mexico. We included fresh fruits and vegetables as well as herbs, spices and grains. Everyone could get an idea of what kind of foods can be found in a traditional Mexican mercado. The room decorations were traditional in Mexican festivities and the center pieces were also food inspired. We all wore with pride our traditional attire which is also part of our cultural heritage.




Above the mercado, we had a photo gallery of mouthwatering Mexican dishes prepared with ingredients from the market. Employees were able to browse through the pictures and see how many of those dishes they could recognize. We invited everyone to find something interesting and to make sure they look for it in their next visit to a Mexican restaurant or their next trip to Mexico.

Our menu was a delicious taco trio that included birria de res, a beef stew made with a red sauce of dried chili peppers and spices used since Pre-Hispanic times; second, a chicken stew made with a green sauce from fresh peppers and tomatillo, also legendary ingredients in Mexican cuisine; and the third choice was a vegetarian option, made with fresh zucchini, corn, onions and tomatoes. To enrich the flavor, we add herbs and top with queso fresco, a ranch style  Mexican cheese that is something you'll find in every Mexican kitchen. If people wanted to keep it strictly vegetarian, we suggested not to add cheese. As side dishes we had beans and the real pico de gallo made with fresh fruit. And to wash it all down, we had aguas frescas, a typical every day drink made with fruit and/or vegetables. This time our drinks were made with three different flavors; spinach, hibiscus flower, and rice - all very delicious! After the meal, everyone enjoyed a Mexican style rice pudding – it was the perfect dessert!

In Mexico, we celebrate the day of the dead. Every year in November, we invite our departed loved ones to come back and celebrate with us. We build an Altar de Muertos in their honor. The altar is made up with pictures of our loved ones, with artifacts, flowers and the food they used to enjoy when they were alive. This is  another great tradition in our culture that we shared in one of our exhibits.


We also had displays showcasing the crafts and materials used in the different states of Mexico; copper, wood, silver and others. Also, a display representing influential people of Mexican descent and another one with the Aztec, the Mayan and other great civilizations of Mexico. And, of course, a display with pictures of our closer ancestors and of us. This year we have about 50 Latin-American employees in the office. Most of us are from Mexico but we have representations from Chile, Honduras, Cuba, Argentina, Peru and Dominican Republic. They were our special guests - everyone was!

We had other exhibits; a table showcasing toys that are enjoyed by kids and grownups alike throughout Mexico - most of us played with these toys while growing up. Another fun thing we had was the table with Mexican candy. These are favorite treats for Mexican kids but I know of one or two adults in the office who will kill for these treats! 


We displayed the history of chocolate, which was a gift from Mexico to the world and an inspiration for our offerings and dessert contest. This year the invitation was to submit a dessert that included Mexican chocolate in the preparation. We counted several delicious entries which were carefully rated and we handed out prizes to the winners.

While everyone enjoyed their meal we had a demonstration on how to make corn tortillas which was another gift native Mexicans brought to the world. This exhibit consisted of explaining the process of turning dried corn into masa and then into the wonderful homemade tortillas everyone loves. It was a fun thing enjoyed by many who had never seen this process before.




Then we allowed a little time for everyone to enjoy the food while we showed a video with music and pictures from Mexico. And later we had a live performance delighting everyone with a traditional Mexican song.  We welcomed everyone at the photo booth where they took pictures with their unit or by themselves.










Overall, our Second Annual Mexican Cultural Event was an amazing representation of our food and traditions that everyone enjoyed. And I couldn't be happier to share this with my coworkers. I am also very proud of my compatriots who help put this celebration together. They showed pride in our heritage and were eager to share with everyone, plus, they all looked amazing in the traditional vestments of our country - they are beautiful, talented and wonderful exponents of our culture. Thanks to all who made this a fun and exciting event!

Many thanks to Lorraine and Ericka who provided me with some of these pictures.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do."... / "A donde fueres, haz lo que vieres."...

… Or bring your own traditions. Halloween is widely celebrated in the United States but its origins are from Ireland. I won’t go into the details or history of this holiday but, if you want to know more about it, follow this link. 

The modern Halloween has influences from many sources - religious, political, horror literature and films, death, and ghosts. Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children. They walk around the neighborhood wearing costumes and go from door to door asking for candy. The Irish carvings were made of turnips but in North America, the native pumpkin is used, which is softer and larger and much easier to carve than a turnip.

Halloween is not a common celebration in Mexico - we celebrate the Day of the Dead but Halloween is sometimes celebrated in the border towns. Since I live in the USA, I like to follow the customs and traditions of this country but I also like to share my Mexican traditions. We celebrate Halloween every year in my office with costumes and pumpkin carving contests, candy and, of course, food. Since Halloween and Día de Muertos are so closed to each other, in the last few years I’ve tried to combine both celebrations. I build my Altar de Muertos in the office to share with my coworkers.

Here are some pictures of our Halloween/Día de Muertos celebration in my office:

Pily and Cosas Bellas de Mexico

There is no one better than Pily to show las cosas bellas de México. She has a blog called La Cocina Mexicana de Pily in which she delights us with authentic Mexican food recipes. The photographs she posts to show us her dishes are spectacular. And the way she shares her love of Mexican cuisine and  the love she has for our México are unmatched. Pily definitely makes me proud to be Mexican!

In this patriotic month, Pily invites us once again to help her show the beauty of México. It is a very original and beautiful way to share our recipes. Follow the link to Pily's blog. I know you are going to like it.

So, here is my recipe for honeyed figs. They are in season now but I prepared this preserve so I can continue enjoying them when the fig tree stops bearing fruit.

Honeyed Figs

3 pounds fresh figs
5 cups light brown sugar
5 cups water
1 lime, peeled and thinly sliced
4-6 green cardamom pods
1 stick of cinnamon
4 whole cloves

Wash figs leaving part of the stems intact. Place figs in a big pot with a heavy bottom, add sugar and cover with water. Add lime and spices. Let simmer over low heat until syrup thinkens and it can coat the back of a spoon, about 60-90 minutes. Place figs with syrup in previously sterilized jars and seal. You can store this in a dark cool place but I like them cold so I keep mine in the refrigerator.

If you ask me, the most beautiful thing in México is its people. So, I will leave you with some pictures of my people.

A Mexican Cultural Fiesta / Una Fiesta Cultural Mexicana

As it has become a custom in my office, cultural festivals have been held throughout the years. However, ever since I started working here, I have never seen anyone organize a Mexican cultural fiesta. This year my co-workers suggested we should have one and so we did.

On this blog, I have posted about the African-American celebration, Black History Month; Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, and more recently I posted some pictures of the Cambodian and Laotian New Year celebration. Now I have the honor of sharing with you a little bit of the culture and traditions of Mexico through photographs and a short narrative of how this event evolved in my office.

We were inspired by beautiful events from other cultures. At first, we talked about celebrating Cinco de Mayo but we quickly voted against it because Mexican people don’t really celebrate this date. We wanted to put together a different celebration, one that would prove a different panorama of Mexico to our co-workers in the office. So, as good old Mexicans who did not need any reason or special day to throw a good party, we picked any old day - May 23rd.

We carefully planned the menu and chose chicken and beef tostadas with all the trimmings. We picked Mexican arroz (rice) as the side dish and aguas frescas for beverages; espinaca (spinach), horchata (rice) and jamaica (hibiscus) to represent the colors of our Mexican flag. Dessert was rice pudding, flan and Mexican fruit gelatin. Our office is promoting healthy food and we thought this was a nutritious and satisfying meal that everyone would enjoy - it had everything - carbohydrates, protein, dairy, vegetables and fruit. Of course, we prepared this meal with authentic Mexican ingredients of the highest quality. It was a delicious meal that everyone liked!

Next were the decorations, exhibits and games. We planned exhibits that showcased the arts and crafts of Mexico as well as some clothing and textiles from the different regions throughout our country. We had an exhibit with Frida Kahlo’s paintings and artwork from the artist, Vic Herman, and a display showcasing influential people of Mexican descent which was very educational and inspirational to us.

We also had an exhibit to show the wine, olive oil and cheese from Baja, which are gaining in popularity every day. We had a tortilla-making demonstration with la tortillera (lady who makes tortillas)! In addition, we played loteria, a fun Mexican game similar to Bingo, and we organized a salsa contest. We invited everyone in the office to participate by contributing a salsa or by being one of the testers. People in the office really got into this; we counted entries not only of Mexican employees but also Cambodian, Vietnamese, African-American and Anglo co-workers who submitted excellent salsitas.

The ceiling and tables were decorated with papel picado and piñatas which we later raffled off. We all wore our beautiful Mexican attire with pride and we were eager to show off how beautiful our traditional vestments are.

The music was selected with the utmost care making sure it was tasteful and exquisite; we did not have any problems there because Mexico has an extensive repertoire of amazing music. A beautiful video was shown so that our co-workers could see the beauty and magnificence of Mexico’s landscapes.

We ended our celebration by handing out little bags filled with Mexican sweets to thank each guest.

All in all, our Mexican cultural event was a lovely one. I enjoyed not only the actual event and how beautiful everything was, but also all the planning. I got to work with my compatriots who work in the office with me but who I don’t always have the opportunity to talk and mingle with as much as I would like. We are all very busy with our work and sometimes it is hard to get to know each other.

During the planning of this event, I was pleasantly surprised by wonderful paisanos in the office that are very proud of our country and Mexican heritage as much as I am. Many thanks to all my beautiful, talented co-workers; you made this celebration a memorable one for me!

*Thanks to my co-workers who provided some of these pictures, you know who you are.