The fourth of five Chicano culture celebration events took place on Tuesday in the East Lounge of the Student Activities Center.
This event focused on “Indigeneity and the Chicano Movement” and the speakers at the event, Mario Aguilar, executive director of The Mexi’cayotl Indio Cultural Center, and Virginia Carmelo, director of the Xipe Totec Danzantes Aztecas, talked about being an indigenous person living in today’s world.
Carmelo said that the purpose of her speech was to bring awareness to their history as Chicanos, their involvement in the Chicano movement and their relationship towards the “Danza Azteca” as it exists today.
“The students are very important when they take on this information if they weren’t aware of it before,” Carmelo said. “The community, the Chicano community [also], just taking the time to celebrate their history and a time for awareness.”
Earlier in the event, Aguilar said it was important to preserve the indigenous roots in order to not allow them to ever be forgotten.
Leah Rupin, 19, undecided major is a student that attended the event. She said she thought the event was amazing.
“It really gave light into the Chicano culture and into a lot of the indigenous culture that a lot of people don’t see anymore, especially in Southern California where you don’t see a lot of natives around here . . .” Rupin said.
“I loved to see the dances,” Rupin added. ” It was amazing to see it, not only for the academic cultural side, but for the arts part of it . . . the costumes and their outfits were very elaborate, very beautiful. It really gave light into the culture and everyone was very confident and proud in who they were, what they were representing and I really appreciated it.”
The lecture will be presented by Jesús Salvador Treviño.
You can read the recap on the previous event, “The Nahuatl Language,” here.
