Beginning today, Hispanic Heritage Month will be celebrated on UNC’s campus for the first time.
During the next month, 28 groups will be collaborating on about 30 events spearheaded by the two-year-old Carolina Latina/o Collaborative.
“This year we want to do something that is long-lasting and make it tradition,” said Ron Bilbao, undergraduate assistant to the organization, who also works as a columnist for the Daily Tar Heel.
He said the events will focus on culture, politics, art, music, dance, food, religion and gender issues.
He added that the month is focused on celebrating “comunidad,” which means community in Spanish.
Some of the major groups sponsoring Hispanic Heritage Month include the Carolina Hispanic Association, the predominantly Latino Lambda Upsilon Lambda fraternity, the predominantly Latina Lambda Pi Chi sorority and the Carolina Latina/o Collaborative.
Other notable events include a Latino food night at Top of Lenoir, movie screenings and a festival called Carnaval, which will take place Oct. 16.
“We have people getting people aware of other countries, painting faces, bringing traditional music, food, artifacts and figurines from different countries, and we will have culture tables, including one for the U.S.,” said Hector Hernandez-Lopez, president of CHispA, of the Carnaval event.
Saul Flores, whose sister Theresa Flores is the program assistant to the Carolina Latina/o Collaborative, will come speak about his documentary “The Walk of Immigrants” on Oct. 14.
