On This Beautiful Island Children's Book and Bohío Ornament

¿Quieres leer esto en Español? Simplemente baja la página hasta el final. :)

A great way to teach little one about his culture and ancestors is through children's books. I recently purchased this awesome book: On This Beautiful Island by Edwin Fontánez. 

The story is about Guanín a Taíno boy who lives On This Beautiful Island called Borikén. (The Taínos were the first inhabitants of Puerto Rico). Guanín narrates the beauties of the island as he explores it with his pet Tahite the parrot. He listens to the ocean, and goes off to the rain forest where he finds the coquí.

While reading the book little one and I talked about what he saw in the beautiful illustrations of the book: the bohíos, the rainforest, and the coquí.  As we continued to read we made the story interactive, and fun by using shells to listen to the ocean; and we listened to the coquí (thankfully I found an app with the song of the coquí that I downloaded on my cell phone).  I also let little one play with a small coquí (souvenir) that we have. After we finished I gave him a coloring page of Guanín with his parrot Tahite for him to color that I found here. Since it's Christmas season, we decided to make the bohío ornaments for our tree.  

To make the bohío ornaments we used empty rolls of toilet paper*. I cut the rolls in half, and from another empty roll of paper towel I cut out the roof. Then I used raffia to hang it and hot glue to put the roof of the bohío. White glue and glitter for little one to decorate. (*Per the instructions it requires corrugated paper, but I didn't have any, so I used empty rolls of toilet paper). 

Little one wanted to make the bohíos (huts) sparkly since the last ornaments that we made we used glitter (see the top right star). So I let my baby decorate the huts with glitter.

This is by far the best children's book that I have purchased about Puerto Rico, and my son really enjoys it! He had fun coloring, and decorating the bohíos.

What fun cultural book have you read with your child lately? I would love to know! Please share, like or comment! Thank you!

VERSION EN ESPAÑOL 

Una manera chévere de que mi pequeño chico aprenda más de su cultura y ancestros es a través de libros para niños.  Recientemente compré el libro titulado en Inglés:  On This Beautiful Island  (En esta Hermosa Isla)  por Edwin Fontánez.   El libro también está disponible en Español.  

El libro cuenta la historia de Guanín un niño Taíno quien vive En Esta Hermosa Isla llamada Borikén.  (Los Taínos eran los primeros habitantes de Puerto Rico). Guanín narra las bellezas de la isla mientras el la explora con su mascota la cotorra Tahite.  El escucha el océano, y luego va al bosque tropical donde encuentra al coquí.  

Mientras leo el libro con mi chico hablamos sobre las bellas ilustraciones que vemos: los bohíos, el bosque tropical, y el coquí. Para hacer el cuento más interactivo y divertido utilizamos caracoles para escuchar el océano, y escuchamos a un coquí cantar (gracias a que pude bajar a mi celular una aplicación de la canción). También dejé que mi chico jugara con un pequeño coquí (recordatorio o en mi spanglish un "suvenir" jajaja).  

Después que terminamos, mi chico coloreó una página con el dibujo de Guanín y su cotorra Tahite que encontramos aquí. Como estamos en época de Navidad decidimos hacer unos ornamentos de bohíos para nuestro arbolito.   

Para hacer los bohíos utilice rollos vacíos de papel sanitario*, los corte a la mitad. De otro rollo vacío de papel toalla corte los techos de los bohíos. Luego utilice rafia para colgarlos y con pega caliente pegue el techo y la rafia. Brillo y pega blanca para decorar. (*Las instrucciones requiere que utilice papel corrugado, pero como no tenia use los rollos de papel sanitario). 

El nene quería decorar los bohíos con brillo como hicimos con los ornamentos anteriores que hicimos (ver la estrella en la foto superior derecha). Así que dejé que decorara a su gusto con el brillo. 

Este ha sido el mejor libro de niños que he comprado sobre Puerto Rico y los Taínos, y mi hijo realmente lo disfruta. 

This post has also been linked and shared at All Done Monkey's Co-Hosting of December's Culture Swap, Crayon Freckles, Sugar Bee Crafts, Hands on: as we grow,  and at Kid Lit Blog Hop #6. 

Celebrating Heritage as a Family

Dictionary.com defines heritage as "something that comes or belongs to one by reason of birth; an inherited lot or portion: a heritage of poverty and suffering; a national heritage of honor, pride, and courage."

 

During a recent family event we were catching up with my husband's side of the family. There was so much to talk about! Conversations were flowing about our families, jobs, the high cost of living, and of course politics.  Obviously, this being an election year, my husband's cousin shares with us that during the last election, his daughter came home one day, and blurts out, "I don't know what the big deal is with Obama winning the presidency!" This coming from his 17 yr. old daughter who is Black. Of course he was in shock!  Heck, I was in shock when I heard what he just said! Had she not realized that he was the 1st Black man to become president, and that this was a historic event! Is this what happens when you raise your child oblivious to his/her heritage?

However, in order to better understand her statement, we need to look into her own background, and where she was raised.  Her parents are Black from the South, who moved to Chicago when she was a young child. They live in the upper scale suburbs, and she went to a predominantly all White school.  So the question here is, should had she been raised in a predominantly Black community would her outcome on Barack Obama winning the presidency had been different? How about her parent's involvement in teaching her about her own heritage?

I don't want to pass judgement on how she was raised, however as the mother of a multiracial child, I'm constantly  reading, researching and looking for ways to teach my son where he comes from.  I can only speak by experience of what I'm doing and passing along to my son about his own unique heritage. I have expressed before how adamant I am about embracing your heritage, and culture. Living in the South has proven to be a challenge to instill in my son pride and a sense of belonging of his Latino heritage since it's not as "present" as his Black one. He's living day to day this Black Southern heritage, the food, the culture, and his primary language English.   So how do I teach him about his own heritage? At 4 yrs. old I can only speak to him in simple terms so he can understand, and we do things together as a family to celebrate his heritage: 

• I've started by creating a heritage board for our son. This board helps him understand visually where he comes from.

• As the sole Spanish speaking parent at home, I strive to talk to him in Spanish. Though, I do confess it's a daily struggle, and I've faced many challenges that I shared before in a previous post.  

• Being the multicultural familia that we are, we celebrate El Día de Los Tres Reyes Magos. We have a super long holiday in our home.  Kicking off with Thanksgiving during November all the way through January 6 when we celebrate Three Kings Day!     

Getting ready for Los Tres Reyes Magos

• Fostering his relationship with his extended family, and creating new memories has been easy since we travel to Puerto Rico every other year, and the year that we don't travel we always have his Abuela or his Titi Gladys with the familia come over to visit.  He knows who is his extended family, including the ones that do not live in Puerto Rico. Our relatives living in the states have come to visit us, or we have gone to visit them.  His extended family is very much "present" in his life, through out the year they send him letters, and/or packages to keep in touch with him.  (We have used video chat, but not as often as we should). 

Playing the tambourine with his Great grandma in Puerto Rico

• Although, a little hard (because of the difficulty of finding the ingredients locally) is introducing little one to Latin cooking.  He loves soul food, but is having a hard time assimilating his palate to Latin cuisine. It's a treat when we receive from Puerto Rico: guineos verdes (green bananas), papaya (tropical fruit), gandules (pigeon peas) and/or ajies dulces (sweet peppers) so we can whip up a Latin dish.  I often make a delish flan which is now our "go" to dessert for parties, and gatherings. 

Ajíes dulces from Puerto Rico delivered home via US Mail. 

Guineos verdes from Puerto Rico delivered home via US Mail. 

Yummy delish flan. 

Lechosa (Papaya) Tropical fruit from Puerto Rico delivered home via US Mail. 

• Reading to him bilingual or Spanish books is a fun way to learn about his heritage. Little one loves the book about the Coquíes, On this Beautiful Island, Atariba & Niguayona: A Story from the Taino People of Puerto Rico, Mi isla y yo/My Island and I: La naturaleza de Puerto Rico/The Nature of Puerto Rico, and most importantly books celebrating diversity, and multiculturalism. 
  
  

  

  One of little one's favorite books. 

  
  

His heritage is his identity, and I pray that teaching our little one of where he comes from will help him embrace his individuality.   Creating a sense of pride, of belonging, and knowing where he comes from will promote his character growth, and enable him to defend himself against prejudice and racism. Where he lives will not solely determine his identity, but so will his parent's contribution on passing on his heritage.  :)

How do you teach your children about their heritage? Would love to know! Please share, like and/or comment. ¡Gracias!

This post has been featured at Worldwide Culture Swap's January Culture Swapper. 

Children's Book on Celebrating Diversity

I absolutely love reading to our son. He looks forward to story time with Mommy, and we read 2 or 3 books at a time. We have plenty of books about shapes, colors, animals, in both English and/or Spanish, and our latest addition is about celebrating his diversity. I purchased three books that we are truly enjoying:

A Rainbow of Friends by P.K. Hallinan

A Rainbow of Friends is a wonderful and a colorful illustrated book. With simple and short paragraphs it talks about the differences between friends (some like sports, some like to read, some dress different), and how friends comes in all shapes and sizes.  As they celebrate how unique and special each one of them are the world becomes a better place.

Whoever You Are (Reading Rainbow Books) by Mem Fox

This is also a beautifully illustrated book with short sentences about the children's physical and cultural differences. That where ever they are, and whoever you are all over the world we are all the same.

We're Different, We're the Same (Sesame Street) by Bobbi Kates

Sesame Street characters portrays the physical differences of each one of us: nose, hair, face, etc. That though we're different, we're the same making the world a fun place!

We're having so much fun celebrating his diversity, learning and growing together as a multicultural family. He's a smart, well rounded little boy who is learning where he comes from and despite the differences he sees among his friends, he knows that we are all the same!

What are your thoughts? Please comment below and/or share! Gracias!

Our Son's Heritage Board

When we found out we were pregnant with our son I knew in my heart that he would face many challenges because he would be multiracial. Once he came into this world, I wanted him to celebrate his diversity and be proud of it.   However, I wasn't sure how to address it. He was barely 3 1/2 yrs. old when I started talking to him of where he came from.

So I came up with the idea of creating a “heritage board" for him.  We went on from where he was born, where Mami and Papi were born; we put pics of us up, and glued some other pics of maps, and things typical to the region (flags, mango from PR, Tainos, Palmetto tree from SC, etc.)

When explaining to him that Mami was Latina and that Papi was Black… making him Black and Latin, he laughs and says “Momma, my shirt has black lines not me!” I laughed too, and left it there. This just comes to show that my child is “color blind” in the sense that he doesn’t see Black, White, or any other color in people.  Now, I was at a crossroads as to "how else" can I talk to my son about race? I had been following Multicultural Familia and I decided to reach out to Chantilly Patiño by sending her a message via Facebook.  She featured my question on her "Reader Q&A Series."  I loved her answer,  and you can read more about it here. 

I also posted the picture on my personal Facebook page, and received some encouraging comments. 

His heritage board hangs proudly on the wall of his room, and we often go over it.  We will both looking forward to adding fun things about his culture and heritage on his board as he gets older. 

Embracing Your Roots and Culture

As I look at my son, and see the beauty within him: that he's a child born out of love, and brought into this world with the richness and greatness of having three cultures: Black, Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian. I reflect upon my own life; my roots and culture. I was born in New York, to a Puerto Rican mom, and an Ecuadorian dad. As far as I can remember I was always proud of roots, my culture; heck I was even more thrilled that I had another culture other than being Puerto Rican. As an adult, I am still proud of my roots, and continue to embrace where I came from. So now that we have a son, I want to instill in him this same pride.

Unfortunately, not everyone embraces their roots and cultures; and most of the time deny it. Puerto Ricans are mixed race of Spaniards, African slaves, and Taíno Indians (native indians). Even my own aunts and uncles (on my Mom's side) denied that there could be any "black" in them; but science came back to prove them wrong.

My Grandmother participated in The Origins of the Mitochondrial DNA of Puerto Rico Project, sponsored by the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez campus. They were conducting a series of DNA study and interviews about issues related to heritage and race in Puerto Rico. The professors Dr. Anayra Santory and Dr. Luis A. Avilés, were leading the investigation and visited my Grandmother at home, and requested her authorization to conduct a DNA testing with a strand of her hair to determine her race.

Every member in the family kept saying that my Grandmother was Spaniard, and my Grandmother herself said she was a Taíno Indian. She has a elongated face, light-caramel skin, straight hair, long nose. The test results came back, and the results were in "drum roll please" she was African. Wow, I was happy that I was Puerto Rican, Ecuadorian and now African! My other family members, not so much (I even mailed them a copy of the report! {giggles}); even my Grandmother wasn't thrilled with the results, oh well! It is what it is, right?

Which brought me to think of phrase that I often heard back in Puerto Rico: "¿y tu abuela aonde 'ta?" Which means "and where is your grandmother?"

This my beautiful Mother with my beloved Grandmother.

These are the DNA results:

In Puerto Rico, there's a lot of racism amongst the Puerto Ricans. The dark-skinned Puerto Ricans will ask "¿Y tu agüela, aonde ejtá?" (where is your grandmother?) to the lighter-skinned Puerto Ricans to remind them of their mixed heritage: African. Especially when they deny their roots, and the color of their skin. At the end of the day, there is no denying your Abuela (therefore, your ancestors).

A good friend of mine shared this poem with me (that I had long forgotten). You can find the Spanish version here.

English translation:

Dinga and Mandinga By Fernando Fortunato Vizcarrondo

And your grandma, where is she?

Yesterday you called me Negro, And today I will respond to thee: My mom sits in the living room, And your grandma, where is she?

My hair is kinky, Yours’ is like silk, Your father’s hair is straight, And your grandma, where is she?

Your color came out white, And your cheeks are pink; Your lips are thin, And your grandma, where is she?

You say that my lips are big And they’re always red? But tell me, in the name of the Virgin, And your grandma, where is she?

Since your girl is white, You take her out a lot… And I feel like yelling to you: And your grandma, where is she?

You like Foxtrot, And I like 'Bruca Manigua', You display yourself as white And your grandma, where is she?

You are white on the outside and got into High Society Fearing that someone may get to know The mother of your own mami. Here, who does not have Dinga has Mandinga ha ha ha haaa! So again, I ask you, And your grandma, where is she?

Yesterday you called me Negro, Wanting to embarrass me. My grandma steps out to the living room, And yours hidden from everybody. The poor woman is dying Seeing herself so abused. Even your dog barks at her If she ever steps out to the living room. And I know her very well! Her name is Mrs. Tata You hide her in the kitchen, Because Negro is really… she.

The English translation was found here.

We're not the only race that has a mix of different races, and sadly enough many deny their race, or where they come from; therefore, not embracing their roots and culture. I encourage you to look deeper into your family roots, you'd be surprise where you really come from.

And your grandmother where is she? "¿Y tu agüela, aonde ejtá?"

Would love to hear about your own experiences and thoughts. Please comment and share!

Welcome to "Discovering the world through my son's eyes" where I will share with you how we try to teach our son how diverse, and wonderful our world is. Teaching him a love for books, life, and different cultures. Helping him expand his horizons and his view of the world, thus helping us "discover the world through his eyes."

Saludos y bienvenidos a "Discovering the world through my son's eyes" (Descubriendo el mundo a través de los ojos de mi hijo) dónde compartiremos con ustedes como intentamos educar a nuestro hijo en cuán diverso, y maravilloso es el mundo. Enseñándole el amor por los libros, la vida y diferentes culturas. Ayudándole a expandir sus horizontes y su visión del mundo, que a la vez nos ayuda "descubrir el mundo a través de sus ojos."