Hispanic community unites to celebrate holidays
By Betsy Avelar staff writer
Gilroy – The thumping of the Aztec drums vibrated throughout the Gilroy Senior Center as families gathered for the fourth annual Christmas toy give-away.
More than 300 people signed up for the Wednesday-night event, which included free presents, photos with Santa, free food and a traditional ceremony of the Aztec dance, called “Fuego,” or fire.
One of the dancers, Lizette Diaz, 16, a high school student at MACSA El Portal Leadership Academy, has been dancing for six years and is proud of displaying the history of her Mexican heritage.
“It shows my community my background, and the children can see that this is part of who they are, too,” she said. The dancers wore large feathers on their heads and wore colorful green and pink colored outfits, beaded cloth, cascabeles – bells that hang from the ankles. The ceremony consisted of the blowing of the shell, called the Tecocoli.
“We do it for the families so they can see their roots,” said Diaz about the ceremony and the dancers.
The Glenview Alliance Neighbors Achieving Success (GANAS) and the Gilroy Eigleberry Street Neighborhood Association (GENA) united to bring more than 350 presents and pictures with Santa to low-income families in Gilroy.
Event organizer Art Barron brought in bags of presents for the children who waited in line.
“There’s a real need for it with the low-income families, a lot of people are unemployed,” he said. “We want them to enjoy two to three hours and not worry about what’s going on outside. That would help them through the holidays.”
Like Barron, Victor Frias, vice president of GENA, agreed that the motto for the event was that every child deserves a present for Christmas.
Organizers raised more than $3,000 through community donations, and a breakfast fundraiser.
But for 9-year-old Robert Marcos, the event was more about having fun, as he waited in line for a picture with Santa. He received a shiny colored present and slowly ripped the shiny paper.
“I hope it’s a game boy,” he said to his older brother, Armando Marcos, 17. Robert was surprised when he saw that it was a light-up medical play set. Armando told him that maybe he should pursue a career in the medical field.
While both brothers shared a moment of suspense and laughter, sisters Daisy Torres, 10, and Mildred Torres, 3, stood alongside a table and made gingerbread houses. They joined pieces of graham crackers with icing, then decorated the houses with marshmallows, chocolate chips, gum drops and M&M’s.
