by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
About 100 people gathered in the SUB atrium and crowded around the balcony overhead to watch machete-wielding dancers Friday.
The event celebrated Mexico's 195th anniversary of independence from Spain on Sept. 16.
Alex Salcido, student coordinator of the event, said the day is equivalent to U.S. Independence Day celebrations. He said the event is good for UNM students, even if they are not of Mexican descent, because they can learn about Mexican culture.
"It's kind of like a Fourth of July," he said. "It doesn't matter what race, what ethnicity you are. It's educating the community of UNM."
Another performance was a tap dance with a twist - the dancers balanced cups full of water on their heads.
The event began at 11:45 a.m. when a Mexican color guard presented the Mexican flag in front of Scholes Hall. After singing the Mexican national anthem, the color guard marched to the SUB.
Student Chriselle Heredia said she liked the event.
"It was really good to spread to students who may not know about it," she said.
She was impressed with the turnout, she said.
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"It made an impression, obviously," she said. "There were a lot of people here."
El Centro de la Raza organized the event with Juan Solona, the Mexican consul in Albuquerque.
"It's a joint effort, basically," Salcido said. "We help each other out."
Ver¢nica MÇndez-Cruz, director of El Centro, said the consul's office paid for 90 percent of the event. She did not know how much the overall cost was. She said the biggest cost was getting the color guard, dancers and singers - all of whom were from Mexico - to UNM. She said the consul paid for that.
One goal of the consul's office is to promote Mexican culture in New Mexico, and the event furthered that goal, MÇndez-Cruz said.
She said UNM has probably been celebrating Mexican Independence Day since the school was founded because of the cultural background of many of the students. She said El Centro has been organizing a celebration of the day since the center was founded 30 years ago.
She said the event used to be held on the patios in front of El Centro. This was the first time it has been in the SUB atrium, which is a big improvement, she said.
"Moving it into the atrium really brought out students," she said. "Last year it was on our front patios. It still brought out folks, but not as much as when they're having lunch."
She said the hardest part of organizing the event is getting people to attend.
"With every program that we organize, it's (difficult) getting the publicity that it deserves," she said.
