Speaking to Tina Bartholomew’s fifth-grade class, she said Christmas, or La Navidad, remains her favorite time of year.
After moving to the United States on Christmas Eve, she said it was very hard. She and her husband arrived that evening at the home of her brother-in-law and his wife, ate dinner and went to bed. “Christmas Eve is the best day of the year. There were no firecrackers. The next morning, it was a big thing here,” she said of Christmas.
She said their four children, who are students in the Danville district, love to spend Christmas Eve in Honduras. “They all understand Spanish,” Bartholomew said of her children.
Seymour said she was 29 when she and her husband moved to the U.S. They first lived in North Carolina, then Florida and later Louisiana before her husband’s job brought them to the Danville area four years ago.
She said she never saw snow growing up so they would put cotton on Christmas trees to represent snow.
Sometimes it gets to be 70 to 80 degrees In Honduras, adding that was considered cold for her native country. People wear boots and hats, she said.
Bartholomew told the students it is wonderful for them to be able to compare the culture of Honduras with that of the U.S.
Hispanic Heritage Month will be celebrated from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. The date of Sept. 15 marks when most Central American countries became free, she said.
Bartholomew said Spanish clubs have been formed for third, fourth and fifth grades at Liberty-Valley and for second-graders at the Danville Primary School. They meet before classes begin.
