Category: Uncategorized

Hi. Today is Wednesday and I have a couple of things to discuss. First I would like to discuss an object I would put on an alter. Which really reminds me of when I was young until now. My father and I build our own alters for Dia De Los Muertos. We would put pictures of our loved ones who have passed on, candles and cempazuchitl. It would take us hours to get everything in place how we liked. With building an alter comes a lot of patience and energy. If I had to pick one object to put on the alter it would be the cempazuchitl’s which are a type of flowers. They are bright yellow and orange. I feel they really bring out the true beauty of alters. When I see the bright flowers colors bounce off of each other I remember how scared, beautiful and powerful alters are. This all reminds me of when my dad and I are building alters together which happens every year. This has turned into our own tradition every year. We spend hours on one alter. This is such a meaningful traditions because we do it together. As we build our alter we will remember love ones who have passed on and shared good memories of the, we sing songs and put a lot of energy into this. My dad tells me that he used to build small alters with my grandma (his mom) and it is meaningful for him. I would love to pass this tradition down, with my little brothers or maybe my own kids. I think this tradition keeps me grounded and helps me keep moving forward. If I had to create a tradition it would to be building alters with my little brothers and something silly like frozen yogurt every Monday night (just to make Monday nights better).

Inserted picture of cempazuchitl.

Thank you.

1. The object is black, has letters on it, used to block the sun and is not from the United States. My uncle is from the same place the certain object is from. My uncle is from Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. My uncle was always proud of where he was from. At parties, once music that came from Culiacan was played, there wasn’t anything to stop him from going ahead and grabbing someone and dancing with them. He was never disappointed from where he came from.
2. Every Christmas since 2014, it has been held at my new house. But before I moved, every Christmas was held at my father’s parent’s house. But every year my grandmother and my mother would make tamales with arroz and frijoles. Also everyone would be there every year and every year I always look forward to seeing my family come together and bringing happiness to the households.
3. Every birthday for my uncle I would want to have an altar with a picture of him and bless his soul so that the his body will once again be one with the earth. I would want to used natural plants so I might want to use sage.

1. Well when we had Rosas class I putt a traditional blouse that reminded me of my mom. Because every year when my parents have the funds to take my family we always go to the venders that are selling on the sidewalk outside of the hotels or around the street and my mom always gets me and her a matching blouses ever since I was little. Even our traditional regalia my dad always makes me and my mom matching and its something that we have been doing together since I was born honestly. And it makes me feel closer to her and loved and yeah. LLLLLOOOOVVVEEEE YOU MOM!!!!!!!!
2. A tradition thats meaningful to me is Cuauhtemoc. Because every year I attend a ceremony with my family and we go dance and my friends come and my other family members come also and I always manage to have a great time and every year is a better and different experience for me I have to say. Well its a two day ceremony and before we go dance witch usually falls on on a weekend and before we go dance we first have a Velacion. A Velacion is when everybody brings their chiwandas and rattles and hand drums and we just stay up all night singing until its morning. And sometimes there are people who sleep there and just get ready there and we dance from there. And we march to where the Cuauhtemoc statue is witch is in Lincoln Park  and once we get there we start forming a circle and dance for a good couple of hours. And every time I start dancing I always get this rush for some reason and I get excited and I try my best to put all positive energy and good thoughts while I’m dancing. Also I love it when I’m marching and I can smell the copal and it just puts me in a good place and I love seeing the colors from other peoples regalia.
3. A tradition that I would like to create is a day where you gather a group of your closest friends or closest family members and have a praying ceremony. I feel that it would be fun and awesome to pass that down and have some kind of way to be closer with your friends and family and just pray to your ancestors. It would fall on July 1st because why not and you would have a  fire going on and you will just create a circle and pray.

A tradition I would like to start is on Thanksgiving going to Alcatraz. We did it last year and  it was absolutely amazing. Even though it was super cold it was still a lot fun and a great experience. It happens to show what the white people did/do to the indigenous people. Also to recognize that we are still here and we always will be.

A tradition that has a lot of meaning to me is when we go out to Limuw and the dolphins always show up and we get to sing to them. It is emotional and like there’s nothing that can quite describe what it’s like.

1. An object I would put on the altar would be my beaded necklace. I bought it during canoe journeys in 2012. Whenever I see it, I think of my culture because of how beautiful it is. Looking at it reminds me of how beautiful and unique my culture is and also reminds me how much I love it.
2. A tradition that is meaningful to me is getting together every year on Christmas Eve and playing the White Elephant with my family. We’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember, even before I was born. Everyone in my family comes and we have a blast eating wonderful food and playing the White Elephant. Getting together for Christmas Eve dinner is what I look forward to every year become spending quality family time makes me feel great.
3. A tradition I would like to create is saving any animal who needs help around me. I could get this tradition passed around my community by making a Facebook Page and putting flyers around my community. This is important to me because all lives matter and that include animals.

The object i put on the alter was a ring that my best friend gave me a couple of months ago. It made me think of my best friend, Adrianna. she’s the love of my heart and my favorite human being.i put the ring on the alter because she needs prayers right. she’s really struggling with life…

a tradition that has meaning to me is every christmas eve, my whole family meets at my grandma’s house and we wait till midnight and open presents. i love spending time with my family and we just have a great night.

a tradition i’d like to create in the future is having a pumpkin pie eating contest with my family. just think about how dope that’d be.

An object that I would put on the alter would be my inhaler. I chose this because when I need assistance with my breathing I always use my inhaler to open up my lungs and get my breathing back to normal. A tradition that has meaning to me is before Easter and Christmas me and my family get together at the cemetery and decorate my great grandmothers grave for her. It means a lot to us and makes us all feel like she is still with us. A tradition i’d like to create is the peers from my school that I came to the Pitzer Pipeline with take our clapping sticks and use them as we give thanks to the four directions in the morning.

1. An object would be my zombie candles because they have an interesting background story to them. So last year my best friend Kyla got me candles for the birthday cake. It was going to be a surprise but she was running late so they became a gift for next year. The reason for the zombie candles is because of how much time I actually put into playing my video games. More into the background of playing video games is that I started out playing zombies in 8th grade. The meaning of the little zombie candles is that I understand I have a friend that will know the little things that matter to me.
2. A tradition to me is Thursday night dinners. There is nights where some of my close family comes over and visits for dinner and there are nights when its just my step-moms close friends. My aunt usually brings some potato salad or her fry bread and soup for all of us to eat and enjoy. After that my family does they own thing either the children play outside or I go over to a friends house and watch a movie and hang out.
3. A tradition that I would like to create is a social media post talking about how movements are being viewed and their opinion on how it can get bigger. The issue that I am strong about is being disconnected because of technology and social media. So putting these apps on our phones to good use by creating movements through groups. Anything can be a movement to express the issue of a certain thing or people.

An object that I would put on an altar that has deep meaning to me and represents something much more than it actually does would be a tea strainer. A tea strainer makes me think of my mother because she is always making me and my family tea whenever we are sick and making tea and helping people is something she really cares about. My mother taking care of me while I’m sick is a tradition that I really value because there is so much love involved in her taking care of me rather than some doctor just doing their job. A tradition that I would want to create would be making tea with my entire family and my mom passing on her knowledge to the rest of us but I feel like spending this family time together would bring us so much closer together.

Suuhh dudes

I would put this necklace that my moms late boyfriend gave me on the altar. The reason why I would put that on the altar because he just it to me one night. The necklace is a deer antler carved as a eagle head. When he gave it to me he said how much he loves me and how special I was to him. When ever I look at it one my wall it always reminds me of that night, he was so special to me and  I miss him so much. A tradition that really means a lot for me is the powwow in Brentwood. I always go there every summer but this year I’m missing it because I’m at this program. The powwow actually starts really soon, and I’m really sad about that. I love the powwow so much just hanging out with my family and friends, and just eating, and watching everyone dance and sing. I have two cousins and our birthdays are on the same day so we would all have a birthday party together. We would invite everyone where we live and just have fun together and laugh .

PEACE OUT:)