Local children celebrate Christmas with WMU Spanish students

By Russell Buero
Western Herald

On Dec. 5 Western Michigan University students in Internship or Service with Spanish hosted a posada in cooperation with Maple Street Magnet School for The Arts.  A posada is a type of Christmas festival that originated in Latin American.

The posada was setup for the local students at the Maple Street Magnet School for The Arts.  The event was sponsored through the Good Neighbor Grant from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, and volunteers from Western Michigan University contributed their time to help setup and monitor the students.

“Students [at Western Michigan University] have a lot to offer and can also learn a lot about other cultures,” Michael Millar said, professor of the Spanish 4400 Internship and Service class, “There is so much energy on campus that can be used in a positive way for the community.”

Los Bandits, who have a slogan of “more than a Tex-Mex band,” played music in Spanish and English for the students and parents in attendance.  With their lively music the band was able to get the kids up to the stage to dance.

The traditional Latin American theme was set to, “bring more culture into the school,” Nicole Vafadari, senior and Spanish major at Western Michigan University, said.

That was apparent even in the announcements as they were given both in Spanish and English.

As with a traditional posada there were many piñatas set up around the cafeteria of the School for The Arts.   Piñatas were put up for voting on who had created the best between students of the Latin Student Alliance and Maple Street Magnet School for The Arts.

After all the voting was completed the winners were announced and given prizes of t-shirts.  Finally, the moment all the kids had been waiting for since it was time to break open the piñatas to get at all the Christmas candy inside.

The kids took turns swinging a decorated bat, blindfolded, at a moving piñata.  The cafeteria was filled with laughter as some completely missed and others hit it dead on sending the candy flying and starting the mad scramble of the children to get as much candy as possible.

The kids could also make poinsettias out of tissue paper, which is the traditional flower of the Mexican Christmas.  Food was available at the beginning and throughout the event.  Buñuelos, tamales, flan, and chocolate caliente or fried dough with sugar, corn dough with filling, custard desert, and hot chocolate respectively, were all served.

All WMU students that helped volunteer their time voiced similar attitudes of gratitude to be able to help out at the posada.

“Finally we get to go out and make use of what we learned,” Mayela Cameron, secondary education with major in Spanish at Western Michigan University, said.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2835

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Dec 7 2008. Filed under Local, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com