How Latinos Are Adjusting to Celebrate the Holidays During COVID
With COVID-19 cases still on the rise, this makes everybody’s holiday plans different compared to previous years. For Vanessa this means drastically downsizing her family gatherings. For Lilian this means staying in Mexico longer than she expected. And for Edith, she reflects on memories of her father who passed away due to COVID earlier in the year.
According to a story by The Los Angeles Times, “Latino communities are at higher risk for the illness for several reasons. They tend to be essential workers who must go to retail stores, manufacturing plants and other sites rather than working from home. That puts them at a great risk of contracting the virus. Some Latino neighborhoods are more densely populated, making the virus easier to spread.”
Sharing and spending quality time with loved ones is the core of the holidays for many Latinos. Here is the story of how 6 Latino families plan to celebrate Christmas amidst the pandemic.
Vanessa Velazquez
Vanessa Velazquez, a sociology major at CSUCI in her senior year, and her family normally fill up their home with loved ones to celebrate the holidays. She explains how his year will be different.
“I am scared of COVID, I mean for me, if I get it, I can fight it off. But what scares me is the fact that I know if I get it I can infect my parents and THAT’S what scares me. I think it’s important to limit the amount of people whom you surround yourself with. This thanksgiving it was just my family and my god parents. Typically we have a full house with tias, tios, cousins, grandparents, nino(a),” said Velazquez.
With this in mind, Vanessa shared photos from Christmas last year compared to her immediate family to demonstrate how much her family downsized their family gatherings for the holidays.
“Last year it was more than just my family compared to this year. It was the last time we were all fully together considering the pandemic ruined everything. But we have to work with what we have right? And just be cautious and thankful,” said Velazquez.
Lilian Bojorges
Lilian, a 19 year-old from Bloomington felt she needed a fresh start after a rough break up. Since she hadn’t been to Mexico in 4 years and all her family is there, she decided to spend some time in Jesus Maria, Jalisco.
“I am currently living in Mexico and have been with the same family for like 5 months now and we have not had any cases at all so I mean in that aspect I’m not scared to be with them, that’s why i’m staying here. Because I’m scared to go back to california since there’s hella cases over there and my family are constantly exposed to it over there,” said Bojorges.
In Jesus Maria, Jalisco, a town about two hours from Guadalajara, with her family of about 30 people, she feels relieved they haven’t had any cases and plans to keep spending time with her family in Mexico for Christmas.
“I planned to be here for a month but I just didn't want to leave. I have so much fun with my cousins and everything, so now I’ve been here for 5 months. I spend time with the same cousins constantly, and we don’t go to the big cities like Guadalajara or Mexico City. We do lots of reunions. Lots. It’s the same lot of people,” said Bojorges.
Edith Arrieta
Edith Arrieta, a CSUN student planning to major in kinesiology reflects how this Christmas will be different since her father's passing due to COVID earlier in the year.
“This holiday season, I will be staying home with my family, mother, stepdad, and brother, and having our own small celebration. It will be different from previous years since we won’t have our friends and family come over and celebrate together. Still, we want everyone to stay safe and healthy,” said Arrieta.
Arrieta continued, “A special holiday memory that I have, is when I would go over to my dad’s house to spend the day with him and my brother to have our second Christmas. Sadly that will not happen this year since I lost my dad to COVID earlier this summer. It is something that I will miss this holiday season since it was the one day that we would get together and have nobody to disturb our family time, just the three of us laughing and being happy.”
Jailene Hernandez
Jailene Hernandez, a CSUN student majoring in Psychology shares how celebrating her birthday and the upcoming holidays is different.
“Before, it was all my family and some of my friends just gathering together. This year, I won’t be able to gather with anyone other than my immediate family to avoid the risk of getting Covid. I don’t want to put my family in that predicament of potentially getting infected. I have no alternate plans to meet with anyone besides my family.”
Maritza Alejos
Maritza Alejos, a Ventura College student majoring in music shares her thoughts on COVID and how her family will be taking precautions by getting tested before gathering.
“I don’t think it’s as bad as the news is making it out to be. If I was high risk then I would be afraid of it, but I’m not. There’s always a chance that I could be left permanently affected by getting it and there’s still a chance of me dying, but it’s not likely. I do try to be careful in order to not get anyone in my family sick, but if anyone were to get sick I don’t think they would die from it. If I die I die,” said Alejos.
Alejos continued, “I’m only going to be with my immediate family and maybe with a couple cousins I’m always with. Previous years it’s like the whole family getting together like aunts, uncles, and cousins. We will be getting tested, but we probably won’t wear masks unless someone has a runny nose or something.”
Becca Diaz
Becca Diaz, a CSUCI student and a CNA shares her perspective on COVID and plans for the holiday.
“As a healthcare worker getting exposed to it and seeing how patients were able to recover, I guess I started seeing it as another illness that’ll you have to fight. It’s still scary but not like a paranoia. Everybody reacts differently to it either mild or severe, so that’s the thing that sucks not knowing how bad it can affect someone,” said Diaz.
This year she won’t be traveling as she would in previous years to celebrate Christmas.
“I’m just staying home with the family unlike in previous years I’d actually celebrate with all my relatives at my aunt’s house either out of state or out of town. My favorite holiday memory was when I spent Christmas with family in San Francisco and we would wait till midnight to open up the presents,” said Diaz.
