Commentary: Latin American holidays shouldn't be overlooked

Guest commentary by Nina Colburn

The CEO had every detail worked out. The room was warm and welcoming. The food was laid out carefully. The drinks were chilled. The Christmas decorations were in place. He even practiced the few Spanish phrases he would use to greet his Spanish-speaking employees and their spouses.

It would be a wonderful evening and a happy occasion to thank all of his work force - his American workers and his Hispanic employees, along with their families - for their year of hard work.

There was only one problem: Not one Latin American worker showed up.

This true story sadly reminds the American business owner or manager that a cultural divide still exists between American management and the ever-growing Latin American workforce. Even with the best of intentions, lack of cultural knowledge can turn a wonderful gesture into an unfortunate faux pas.

What went wrong here?

One simple mistake - the business owner planned the holiday party on a good date for him, Dec. 12, but on the day of an important religious holiday for his Latino workers: El Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe (the Day of the Virgin Guadalupe).

All of his Spanish-speaking employees and their families were where they would always be on Dec.12 - at home or in their church, celebrating the day honoring the Virgin Guadalupe.

Gaining knowledge about Latin American holidays is important and easy. Step one is to purchase a Catholic calendar at a nearby religious bookstore. It will help in two ways. The first is to help you avoid the innocent blunder mentioned above. The second is to allow you to intentionally celebrate the holidays that are important to your workers.

Some examples:

On Dec. 12, the Day of the Virgin Guadalupe, you can buy a recording of Las Maņanitas, which is the traditional birthday song sung on someone's birthday, and play it in the lunchroom during the lunch break. All your workers will smile, as they are accustomed to singing the song to the Virgin on that day every year.
Send out a memo in Spanish and in English that you will be serving tamales and hot chocolate in the lunchroom. These little extras mean so much to your Spanish-speaking workers. Try it and see!

Christmas is celebrated throughout Latin America on Dec. 24. Christmas Eve is called Nochebuena (Holy Night) and it is customary to celebrate the birth of Christ with a family dinner late in the evening and then go to a special midnight mass which lasts into the morning hours.

Businesses with 24/7 operations might want to suspend the evening and graveyard shifts on Dec. 24 for this reason. Many businesses will conduct their holiday greetings in the early evening on the 24th, and then let their families leave early for their own Nochebuena gatherings.

Easter is also very important and Good Friday holds high significance. Habitually, people only work a half-day on Good Friday and everything in Mexico shuts downs completely from Good Friday through Easter Sunday. Businesses with large Hispanic work forces might think about giving Good Friday instead of Presidents Day as a holiday.

Another important holiday, especially in the construction trades, is the day of San Juan De La Cruz. The day varies from year to year, but on the day, a Catholic priest visits the work site, which has been decorated with a simple unadorned cross. The whole work crew gathers with their families and the priest blesses the site with holy water and fresh flowers are put at the foot of the cross to bless the site. The ritual is enacted to protect the people from any harm while working at the site until the job is completed. After the blessings, a meal for the workers is given at the site to celebrate the day. If a business leader feels more comfortable omitting the blessing, he or she should still consider hosting a meal.

One final day of import in Latin America is El Dia de la Muerte, which occurs right after Halloween, but that's a topic for another column.

Use this information to make the most of the upcoming holidays and show all your employees - American and Hispanic - that you value their customs and traditions.

Happy holidays!

Nina Colburn is principal of Effective Cultural Connections, a Denver-based consulting firm specializing in cross-cultural communication.
She can be reached at Ninacolburn@msn.com.

Commentary from:

The Aspen Daily News
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