By Maureen Smith
TUPELO – On Saturday, September 15, St. James Parish hosted Hispanic Heritage Day which included music, dance, food and a friendly fund-raising competition for the title of Hispanic Queen. The celebration gathered more than 300 people from the parishes of deanery five.
“Our Parish of St. James, began to have this celebration in 2005 for the Independence Day of Mexico. The objective of this event was to spend a family afternoon and share our traditions, with music, dancing – without missing our typical Mexican snacks. Over the years this event has grown a lot and more people have joined,” said Raquel Thompson, coordinator for Hispanic Ministry for St. James. Latinos from New Albany St. Francis, Corinth St. James the Less, Ripley St. Matthew, Pontotoc St. Christopher and the host parish joined in by offering a display of costumes, bringing a dance or musical group, food and drinks typical of their homeland.

“We, as Hispanics in the United States, are proud to share a little of our cultures, customs and traditions that go beyond folk dances, food, etc., so this year we organized it at the deanery level,” explained Thompson. “The goal was to have a meeting of communities to share our faith, promote unity, family integration, inspire our youth and feel the joy of brotherhood that unites us as Latino brothers and sisters in this country, who has welcomed us and feel at home, although we are far from our land,” she continued.
Katia Cruz acted as emcee for the day. At the end of the celebration organizers named a “Hispanic Queen,” conferred on the girl who collected the most money through selling snacks throughout the event. The ladies wore costumes from the countries of origin of their parents. In a short interview with four of the participants, the common denominator was their desire to help their church and therefore their community. Joselyn Acosta, Karen Ruedas, Lorena Benavides and Kaelen López all have dreams for the future as an accountant, nurse and lawyer. The money raised will help all the parishes in the deanery. In the end Kimberly Huerta of New Albany St. Francis was elected as Hispanic Queen 2018, with second place for Daniela Pérez of Corinth and third place for Carolina Acosta of Tupelo.

(Berta Mexidor, Katia Cruz and Raquel Thompson contributed to this story. See more photos in this week’s Catolico.)