This upcoming week my school celebrates our culture. For 19 years they’ve been celebrating this. On the weekend, they do an activity that for the last couple of years has involved all of our town, and even nearby towns. In this event students from all grades prepare a 15-20 minute segment where they talk, dance and act out the theme they were assigned. The 11th grades theme, my theme, are our traditions. I felt the urge to write a few details about Puerto Rico since a lot of people don’t even know where it is.

Puerto Rico was discovered on November 19th 1493 by Christopher Columbus. Our race was created by the mix of three other races: African, Taíno and Spanish (white). The island was populated with Taínos when the Spanish arrived and brought with them the African slaves. We inherited several characteristics from them, as well as their traditions. We’re mainly Catholic, like the Spanish, several town names are derived from the names the Taínos had given them and we dance, like the Africans.

Don’t know where we are? Here are some images to help you figure it out:

Thanks for reading.