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Spanish Club draws crowd for fiesta
YOUNGSTOWN
Inside Ursuline High School, dancers in colorful costumes performed onstage in the cafeteria while outside, two alpacas did a meet-and-greet from their pen.
Not typical after-school activities, but ones that drew a crowd. It was the school Spanish Club’s first Fiesta de las Americas, and the cafeteria was packed with people. So, said Korree Cotton, a senior in the club, it likely would not be the last.
“It will probably be an annual thing,” she said.
She was catching her breath in the hallway after finishing up the bachata that she’d performed onstage with club members Jabbar Price, Bethany Riols and Devin Harding. It is a couples dance that originated in the Dominican Republic.
There were multiple performances set for the 6 to 8 p.m. fiesta, she said, along with ethnic treats and posters at stations along the wall filled of facts about our neighbors to the south: Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Panama, Bolivia, Argentina, the Galapagos Islands, Mexico, Peru and the Dominican Republic.
Puerto Rico was represented, too, by the Spanish Evangelical Church.
Dancing the Plena in colorful native costumes were women from the church, a multicultural, bilingual protestant ministry at 369 Keystone Ave.
“This is how we worship,” said Ruth Rojas, wife of the Rev. Rolando Rojas, the church’s pastor.
Tambourines and flags used during the dances, she said, “are tools to worship God.”
“We want to demonstrate you can worship God and have fun with it,” she said. Demonstrating a dance from Chile called the Chaepaco were freshmen Sierra Chapman, Abigal Schar and Kaitlin Goss. They were proudly wearing authentic dresses their teacher, Senora Paulina Montaldo, had worn when she danced, they said.
The fiesta wasn’t all entertainment. There was plenty of education there, too, and a lot of opportunities to brush up on your Spanish.
Facts about each South American country were presented in Spanish as well as English.
You also could learn about cultural celebrations such as the quincenera, a party given when girl turns 15. It recognizes her transition from childhood to maturity. At her ceremony, she receives a tiara, a bracelet or ring, earrings, a cross, medal or necklace and a Bible, prayer book or rosary.
Who is the world’s biggest producer of copper? Go to next year’s Fiesta de las Americas to find out.
Of course, there was a station to explain all about the alpaca — those cute little creatures outside watching the traffic go by on Wick Avenue when they weren’t mingling with fiesta attenders on their way in to the school.
Standing 36 inches tall, with thick wool that can be either fluffy or in “pencil locks,” they are from the Andes Mountains in Chile, Peru and Bolivia.
They are prized for their wool.
Noche and Anisha came from Kester’s Krias Alpacas in Pulaski, Pa.
“Llamas are beasts of burden but alpacas are used for their fiber,” said Cor Kester, who owns the farm along with his wife, Joyce. “It is very light and insulates naturally.”
He said they shear their 21 alpacas once a year and sell the wool to a fiber mill.