To: OSWER Everyone, OPP ALL, Eugene Green/DC/USEPA/US@EPA, ORD-NCER
From: Susie Goldring/DC/USEPA/US
Date: 09/13/2012 02:51PM
Subject: Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic news you can use!
Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico declared its independence on September 16, and Chile on September 18.
Over the past decades, the Hispanic population in the USA has shown tremendous rise. For the uninitiated, Hispanics are people who have origins related to the country Spain. In the recent years, the term Hispanics is also used to categorize a larger group of population in the US who originally belonged to the nations ruled by Spain.
Besides that, various parts of Central and Southern American countries, Mexico and even Philippines have cultures related to the Spanish origin. 'Latinos' or Latin Americans and people with Portuguese origin are also an integral part of Hispanic culture and traditions. California, Texas, New York, and Florida are the four states that constitute more than 70% of the total Hispanic population in the US. One of the most simple Hispanics culture facts is that majority of the Hispanic population speaks Spanish language.
Hispanic Culture in the United States
Hispanic people are vibrant, socializing and fun loving people. Among various facts associated to this culture is that they have a deep sense of involvement in their family traditions and cultures.
Family Bonding
In Hispanic families, there is a culture of living in closely knit groups that not only contains grandfathers and grandchildren but all generations whose descendants are alive. In most of the families, father acts as a chief of the family while mother works as a housewife. All adults and working individuals in Hispanic family realize the importance of work and they make efforts to help other family members in times of need that may be related to education, health and other requirements. The family ties are strengthened by traveling to relatives places and homes during vacations and holidays. Relatives and acquaintances are given lot of care and respect.
General Manners
Hispanics are generally formal in their treatments and a firm handshake is a common practice between people. A light kiss on cheek and hug are also common forms of greeting close acquaintances, family members and friends. When Hispanics are addressing someone with informal words, generally they are very fast, loud and use a lot of body language gestures to convey their points.
