DAS Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

Each year Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from September 15 to October 15 honoring the history, culture, and contributions of American Hispanic and Latino communities. One of the key reasons this recognition falls between two different months is to encapsulate many dates of independence throughout Latin America.

This year the DAS Equal Employment Opportunity Center of Excellence kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) with an exclusive film screening of "Traditions without Borders/Tradiciones sin Fronteras," a mini documentary directed by Connecticut Public Radio journalist Maricarmen Cajahuaringa. Ana Garcia opened the presentation by singing the Star-Spangled Banner and La Borinqueña, the official anthem of Puerto Rico.

Ana Garcia currently sits on the Advisory Committee for the Progreso Latino Fund in New Haven, working to empower a diverse Hispanic community in the Greater New Haven region through education, leadership, culture, and philanthropy. Ana has worked as an Executive Aid to Mayor Elicker in New Haven and has performed for numerous Puerto Rican Festivals and events across the state with the organization Puerto Ricans United. She has performed at the Meriden Puerto Rican Festival, New Haven Puerto Rican Festival, and the Savin Rock festival just to name a few!

After Ms. Garcia’s amazing performance, guests were presented with Ms. Cajahuaringa’ s film, "Traditions without Borders/Tradiciones sin Fronteras", which spotlights the Lord of Miracles Peruvian cultural tradition. This film encapsulated the rich cultural traditions of Peru and showed the mix of African, Indigenous, and Christian Traditions that came together to create aspects of Peruvian culture. It also showed how strong Peruvian culture and community is in Hartford, with 2,000 people of all nationalities in attendance for the 2022 event, the first since the start of the pandemic.

After Ms. Cajahuaringa’ s film screening, there was a Q&A portion, where members of the audience had the opportunity to learn more about how the film was created, the culture of Peru, and ways to get involved in the Peruvian community in Hartford.

The DAS Equal Employment Opportunity Center of Excellence thanks both Ana Garcia and Maricarmen Cajahuaringa for participating in this event and wishes everyone a happy Hispanic Heritage Month!