As junior Mitchell VonEschen reflected on the presentation given in Spanish Club this past Wednesday, he shared learning about Latin American and Spanish holiday traditions helped him connect his own culture with others.

“(Being) used to hearing about other cultures and being familiar with some different ones I do think is important,” VonEschen said. “It felt really nice to talk about our culture and see how it is similar and different from the traditions we were learning about.

VonEschen said the club’s activities helped him grasp how important it is to understand other cultural traditions.

“We learned about the traditions of Hispanic cultures during Christmas and New Year’s. We sang a song, read a poem, wrote 12 wishes and ate some authentic foods,” VonEschen said. “My main takeaway was the heightening of my belief that traditions are not necessarily pointless, but play a deeper role and symbolism in how cultures are set up sometimes, and studying them can help see that.”

Spanish Club adviser Hanna Anderson, who helped give the presentation at the club’s meeting Wednesday, Dec. 19, shared the bigger picture of presenting the different ways Latin American and Spanish countries celebrate Christmas and New Year’s.

“(It is important) to be aware of other cultures— of their practices— but also to bring culture to life,” Anderson said. “(Maybe) they can just learn a little bit about what other cultures do and maybe incorporate some into their own traditions.”

According to Anderson, bringing this topic about was not only an activity for the season but to one for bringing people closer together on a global scale.

“(We picked it) because it’s that time of the year; Christmas is coming. The idea was also to have the students share what they do, but also have other perspectives to see what other people do in other countries to celebrate Christmas, and how every country celebrates slightly different,” Anderson said. “For example, for New Year’s there is a community of every country doing the same thing to attract good luck for next year, to try to make wishes or think of things that can bring good fortune.”

Spanish Club president Kayla Corpron agreed with Anderson and VonEschen on the significance of the power the cultural exchange could have on her own cultural traditions.

“We get to understand others’ Christmas and New Year’s traditions, and we can implement some of the traditions that we learned into what we do each year,” Corpron said.

According to Corpron, the activities and presentations given in Spanish Club this week stay with her because they taught so much.

“The thing I will take away from (the meeting) is that there’s a lot of different ways to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. It’s important that we learn about them so we can try some of those different ways for ourselves, or are just to understand how others celebrate,” Corpron said.

According to Anderson, last Wednesday’s meeting went so well it inspired her to continue the presentation to the rest of her classes in the future.

“It was such a fun activity and only a few students got to do it, so we are going to recreate that— or part of it at least— in some of our classes tomorrow, just to be able to bring it to more students. It was a group collaboration, but now each of us can bring it back to our own classrooms,” Anderson said.

Park’s Spanish Club met Dec. 19 to discuss different cultural traditions for the holidays. For more information on the activities of Spanish Club, check The Echo.