Harvard Student Groups Celebrate ‘Unique’ and ‘Unified’ Cultures During Hispanic Heritage Month

Harvard students and affiliates hosted cultural celebrations with musical performances and food in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, which spans from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 and seeks to recognize the histories and cultures of Latinx Americans.

The celebrations kicked off Sept. 15 with the sixth annual Latinx Convocation, a ceremony that welcomed Latinx members of the Class of 2027.

On Sept. 29, Harvard-Radcliffe Raza welcomed Grupo Frontera — a Mexican band from the Rio Grande Valley, Texas — on campus as the recipient of the Trailblazer Award. Raza, a Mexican affinity group, re-introduced the award last year to honor those raising visibility for the Mexican diaspora in the U.S.

Raza Social Co-Chair Anapaula Barba ’25 said Grupo Frontera has “uplifted regional Mexican music.”

“It filled us with joy to be able to honor a band that is doing so much to bring visibility to Mexican music,” Barba said.

“While we recognize the value that comes with celebrating the Latina identity, we want to make sure that we’re also creating space to celebrate the Mexican American or Mexican identity,” she added.

One day later, nearly 200 Harvard students, faculty, and affiliates gathered at the Student Organization Center at Hilles for the second ever Ritmo Latino — a “Latine/Hispanic Heritage Month Cultural Fair and Showcase” featuring music, performances, and food, per an email announcement by Fuerza Latina.

Fuerza Latina hosted this year’s Ritmo Latino in collaboration with the Harvard Undergraduate Dominican Students Association, Raza, Concilio Latino de Harvard, the Harvard Undergraduate Brazilian Association, the Harvard Organization for Latin America, the Harvard Ballet Folklorico de Aztlan, and the Harvard Undergraduate Texas Club.

Sebastian Ramirez Feune ’25, the intercultural chair of Fuerza Latina, said he helped organize the event by reaching out to affinity groups and recruiting performers.

“We truly, truly appreciated all the performers who came out tonight,” he said. “There was great food, there was great music, and everyone in general had a great time.”

“I think that the most important part about this celebration is that we want to recognize — and we want to celebrate — the wide variety of cultures and identities that live and exist within Latin America,” he added.

Kilbert Baez-Arias ’24, a senior representative of DSA, said a key moment of the event occurred at the end when everyone came together to take photos with their countries’ flags.

“Although Latin America is an extremely diverse place, many countries do have a somewhat shared history,” he said. “And so it’s important to recognize that there are threads that connect us all and to celebrate those threads.”

Angie De La Cruz ’26, a representative for Fuerza Latina, said this was her first time at Ritmo Latino.

“Coming here and having such a strong, Latina presence, being able to see people that know your language, that have similar experience with you — it was really comforting,” she said.

On Oct. 11, students performed live music and poetry in front of Widener Library in a pop-up celebration event hosted by the Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights — alongside Fuerza Latina, Concilio Latino, and Harvard’s student mariachi band Mariachi Véritas de Harvard.

Diamante Balcazar ’25, president of Mariachi Véritas, said performing in public places like Widener showcased the “visibility” of the “very unified Latine community” on campus.

“Especially here out in the Northeast, you really don’t see a lot of mariachis,” Balcazar said. “It’s really important for us to perform at events like this because it’s people’s introduction, and I feel like mariachi — the music and as a tradition itself — plays a pretty important part in Mexican culture as a whole.”

Two days later, the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations and Raza jointly hosted an inaugural altar unveiling for the Day of the Dead where attendees learned about the importance of the Mexican holiday.

Barba, the social co-chair for Raza, said the past month allowed her to celebrate what “unites” and “differentiates” the different countries of Latin America, including countries “that are not the most represented.”

“I think it means recognizing the beauty in the contributions that come from these different nationalities that compose Latin America,” Barba said.

Balcazar said Hispanic Heritage Month was an “educational opportunity” for students across campus to learn and appreciate Latinx cultures.

“It’s a great chance to not only recognize what makes us so unique and makes each culture very beautiful, but also serves as a way to invite others to come and experience it,” Balcazar said.

—Staff writer Madeleine A. Hung can be reached at madeleine.hung@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Joyce E. Kim can be reached at joyce.kim@thecrimson.com.