| (Retrived from: amigomonth.co.uk) The Amigo Month is the Latin, Iberian and Lusophone History Month. We wish our communities to feel proud of their culture, heritage and achievements in the UK, and for British people to be aware of our long-standing contributions to this country, It starts each year on 7th September (the national day of Brazil and Mozambique where 90% of the 260 million Portuguese-speakers live) and it ends on 12th October (United Nation’s International Day of the 600 million Spanish-speakers, and also day of the Amerindian resistance). During these 35 days all the around 35 ‘Amigo’ countries have an official national date. It runs in parallel with the USA’s and Canada’s Hispanic Heritage Month and together we celebrate the world’s largest ever ethno-linguistic minority. In UK we have adopted the term “Amigo”, which is the most popular foreign word, and is the friendly way in which British people refers to the Spanish/Portuguese speakers. “Amigos” are all the people that have cultural or linguistic links with Latin America, Iberia and the Iberian-speaking world, including native peoples. During the Amigo Month we remember: That 70%-80% of the British-Irish people have Iberian genes. That Hispanics and Lusos participated in the foundation of London and Britannia. That London was the centre of the Latin American independence leaders. That the Amigo community play an important role in the British economy, culture, gastronomy, music and society. That every day all British consume products which were originally introduced from the Amigo countries like corn, potatoes, tomatoes, tea, chocolate, tomatoes, vanilla and turkey. The Amigo Month aims to promote awareness about the situation of a hard-working community in the UK.. During the Amigo Month 2017 the Latin, Iberian, Lusophone and Amerindian communities organised, independently, tens of national days, parties and street events. We had festivals like the Spanish Film Festival, the CASA Latin American Theatre Festival, the Echoes Latin Classical Music Festival, the street’s Latin food Comidafest and the Indigenous People’s Native Spirit Festival, the Latin Carnivals in Elephant and castle, etc. A huge community According to the Office of National Statistics there are almost 400,000 Iberian citizens in UK, and 300,000 people born in Latin America and the Luso-African/Asian nations. In addition there are around 250,000 people born in the Caribbean and the Philippine islands which used to be Spanish territories administered by Mexico. All these numbers have to be multiplied if we include non-registered people and descendants. According to the British Council 5% of the UK’s inhabitants can speak Spanish or Portuguese albeit the European Commission estimates that it is more than 8%. That would mean a figure between 3 and 6 million people, much more than the speakers of all the co-official Celtic languages put together. The British Council has declared that Spanish is the most important language to be taught in the UK, and now it is the fastest growing language subject in secondary schools. Dates of the Amigo History Month Starting on September 7th through to October 12th every year we celebrate the ‘Amigo Month’. ‘Amigo’ means ‘friend’ in both Spanish and Portuguese, mutual intelligible languages, and is the form which British people friendly refer to their Latino, Hispanic, Portuguese, Lusophone and Brazilian friends. ‘Mes Amigo’ is a period over 5 continuous weeks where around 30 countries that have Spanish and Portuguese as their official language have important dates to remember. It is a great opportunity for the community to come together and commemorate these dates, and thus making up the ‘friends’ coming together for different celebrations. Spanish and Portuguese are the only languages in world history which are currently being spoken as mother tongues by people from different races than from its original heartland. Spanish is the most spoken maternal language in the Western Hemisphere and Portuguese is the most spoken maternal language in the Southern hemisphere and amongst Black people from former colonies. Spanish/Portuguese speakers are Inner London’s largest linguistic minority. In the UK there are more native Portuguese speakers than Spanish, albeit there are around 4 million people in the UK that can understand Spanish. There are now more than 1 million people in the UK with Latino, Lusophone or Hispanic ancestry. The contribution of the Spanish/Portuguese speaking communities can be see everywhere, from thousands of business until daily products like potatoes, corn, tomatoes, chocolate, vanilla and many more products which were originally produced in our countries. According to Professor Stephen Oppenheimer, one of Britain’s top geneticists, the current population of the British islands arrived originally from Iberia. People and Caesars that were born in that peninsula built London from scratch. Several kings, queens and prime ministers in Britain or Ireland have Spanish/Portuguese speaking roots. London was the centre of the Latin American independence’s leaders like Juan Pablo Viscardo y Guzmán (Peruvian author of the manifesto for the independence of the Hispanic Americans), Francisco de Miranda (creator of the word Colombia and of the current flags of his native Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador), Simón Bolívar (liberator of current Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, the majority of Guyana, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia), José de San Martín (liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru), Bernardo O’ Higgins (liberator of Chile), Andrés Bello (the founder of the Andean first education systems), Blanco White (a Spanish who published in London the paper “El Español” claiming for the independence of Hispanic America, Hipólito Da Costa (Uruguayan born publisher of the first pro-independence Brazilian paper) and many more. Here are some of the key dates of the Amigo Month September 7, 1822 – Brazil’s Independence proclaimed by Don Pedro de Braganza, a relative of Catharine de Braganza family, the Portuguese consort Queen of England that popularized in Britain the use of forks and tea consumption. Brazil with a 200 million population gathers half of the South American population. It is also the largest Latin American country and the fifth world power in economy, population and area. Victory Day in Mozambique, the Old World’s most populated Lusophone country. More than 90% of the world’s 260 million Portuguese-speakers celebrate their independence. Starting day of the Para-Olympic games in Río where this Brazilian city received the Olympic torch from London. September 8 – In 1522 Elcano completed the first circumnavigation of the planet. Day where Maracaibo (Venezuela) and Zacatecas (Mexico) celebrate their foundation. On that year in 1565 in Florida was founded the first Hispanic settlement in what is today the USA. September 10, 1974 – Portugal recognizes the independence of its second separatist colony Guinea Bissau / Cape Verde. Day of Gibraltar, a territory claimed by Spain which was also the only one of the five constituencies during the European referendum where the majority of its population speaks two languages, one of them being Spanish, and which was the one that voted most in favour of keeping open borders with Iberia. September 11 – Day of Catalonia. Today there are 12 million speakers of Catalan, the third most-spoken Iberian language. It is Teacher’s Day in Argentina. On this day also in 1973 a coup d’état in Chile took place, which produced one of the first great migrations of Latino refugees to London. On that day in 1823 died in England Hipólito Da Costa (born in current Uruguay in 1774), the founder of the first Brazilian newspaper and the first Brazilian ambassador in the UK. September 13 and 14, 1671 – Origins of the cult of the Cristo Moreno, a dark skin Jesus painted by an Angolan slave, which would became in Lima the centre of one of the world’s most popular Christian procession ever. September 15 – Day when in 1821 Central is independent and where Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador become the only five countries in the world celebrate their national day on the same day and share similar colours on their national flags . This is also the day the US president makes a speech at the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, the largest ethnic month the world, which lasts until October 15 and is commemorated in schools, universities and institutions in the US. September 17 – National Hero Day in Angola, a country from which much of the people were made to be slaves to Latin America and were released thanks to tens of thousands of troops and Latin American volunteers. September 21 – In 1327 died Henry II, the first English king son of a Hispanic Queen of England. He ruled England for 20 years and the monument in honour of his mother Eleanor of Castilla (the Charing Cross) was the centre of the British vial system, symbolising that in the hearth of Britain pumps a Hispanic hearth. Independence Day in Belize, the only independent country with a large Spanish-speaking and Maya population that has the Queen as its head of State. Equinoctial celebrated by many Latin American Indian cultures where the Mesoamerican pyramids give way in the shadow of the winged serpent. Spring Day in most of South America and the Southern Hemisphere. World’s Day Peace. Peace week in London. International Tourism Day. September 25 – Day of the beginning of the struggle for the independence of Mozambique. September 27, 1821 – Mexican Independence is achieved for good. October 1 – The beginning of Black History Month. There are 250 million Portuguese speakers and Hispanics who are of African descent. The beginning of Canada’s Hispanic Month. Since that day more than 70 million Latinos celebrate their common heritage in the three main Anglo-speaking powers. October 5 – In 1143 the independence of Portugal was recognized and in 1910 Portugal became the only Iberian republic. October 12 – The most important day in world’s history. This date is celebrated in various parts as the day of the Americas, of the Hispanics, Indigenous Resistance, of Spain or Independence of Equatorial Guinea. During the Amigo Month the Jewish, Sephardi and Ladino community celebrate their new year and also the Day of Atonement, the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar. We also celebrate that Europe’s oldest continuously open synagogue is Bevis Mark Spanish/Portuguese synagogue and that until two centuries ago Britain’s’ largest non-Christian minority spoke an Iberian tongue as their mother language. Very important British figures would emerge from that community, like former Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, the founder of the modern political party that is now ruling the UK. It is worth mentioning that immediately after the end of the Amigo Month there are two important dates. On 13th October 1162 was born Eleanor of England, Queen of Castilla, and daughter of Henry II. On 14th October 1882 was born in New York George de Valero, a Cuban-Spanish, which later would became Eamon De Valera, the founder of the modern Republic of Ireland and the most popularly elected ever head of government or state in Europe’s history. |
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