World-Class Latin Culture & Global Roots
National Puerto Rican Day Parade: Somos Más Que 100×35
America’s biggest cultural celebration plants the flag on Fifth Avenue this Sunday. It’s the climax of New York Puerto Rico Week.
Don’t miss Daddy Yankee, Anthony Ramos, Miss Universe Dayanara Torres, and more. Don’t forget your bandera más bonita. ¡WEPA! More…
Queens Museum Latin
About Us: The American Imaginary, Ecuadorian Spring Recital, Sonia Boyce
Sony Hall Latin Concerts
Puerto Rican 9AM Banger, Los Amigos Invisibles, Candlelight Tribute to Bad Bunny
In Shakespeare in the Park, Romeo & Juliet's Love Language is Spanish
An iconic love story with a message for us all
Tribeca Film Festival 2026 Latin Films You Have to See
Killing Castro, Summer of Three/Verano de tres, Sad Girlz/Chicas tristes, Summer War/Guerra de verano, Funk, The Tropic Sun and His Eyes, Mexicanamerican, Jean-Michel, Matininó, Here I’m Alive
Queens Museum Latin
About Us: The American Imaginary, Ecuadorian Spring Recital, Sonia Boyce
FIFA World Cup 2026 at MetLife Stadium
Brazil vs Morocco, France vs Senegal, Norway vs Senegal, Ecuador vs Germany, Panama vs England
National Puerto Rican Day Parade 2026: Somos Más Que 100×35
Daddy Yankee, Anthony Ramos, Dayanara Torres, Charlie Sepúlveda, Nydia Velázquez, Camila Colón, Milton Dávila Jr.,, Los Rivas, Papo Vázquez
2026 Philippine Independence Day Parade Guide: Madison Ave Route & Times
Parade and Cultural Festival Street Fair
Ẹ kú ọdún, ẹ kú ìyèdún
A Yoruba Happy New Year blessing. The late-May, early June onset of the rainy season in Yorubaland (Nigeria/Benin/Togo) sprouts new crops. This rebirth is celebrated with the World Ifá Festival in the sacred ancestral city of Ile-Ifẹ̀, the cradle of Yoruba civilization where the Yoruba world was created. Yoruba New Year’s Day is June 3.
The collapse of West Africa’s Oyo Empire from 1817-1835 forced large numbers of Yoruba into the Middle Passage as that horror was beginning to end. Many landed in Cuba and Puerto Rico which were booming.
So Yoruba culture came to dominate previous African lineages in the Caribbean. We call it Lucumí from the Yoruba greeting Oluku mi, which means “my friend.” Cuban mutual aid societies, Cabildos Africanos, were able to preserve the traditions which evolved into Cuban rumba, son Cubano, and Afro-Cuban jazz.
Elsewhere, Yoruba traditions evolved into South Carolina’s Gullah culture and some American folklore, Brazilian Candomblé, Uruguayan candombe, Argentine tango, and Puerto Rican salsa which are loved around the world. Aché.
This is the unspoken reason why we celebrate the 152nd Street Festival, South Bronx Culture Festival, Bronx Puerto Rican Parade, at the end of May.
In Yoruba/Lucumí tradition, before we begin something, we ask God’s messenger Eleguá, Orisha of the crossroads, to open the road. We ask for a blessing, just like we do before we sing and dance salsa today. Many salsas begin with the call to Eleguá: E-le-le, le-le-le…
So around ten days after Yoruba new year in June, we pay our respects to Eleguá. That is why we celebrate the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, America’s largest cultural celebration, in the second week of June. ¡WEPA!
George Floyd Changed the World
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota
Toussaint L'Ouverture Led the Haitian Revolution
CAP-HAITIAN, Haiti 🇭🇹
Explore the Boroughs
Manhattan | The Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens | Staten Island | New Jersey
¿What is Latin?
LATIN CULTURE
Latin means many things to many people, but our definition is the mix of Indigenous, European, African, and Asian cultures in the Americas ~ leaning into a Caribbean perspective.
The First Nations of the Americas are Indigenous Peoples who built advanced civilizations including: Mississippian (Cahokia), Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi), Maya, Aztec, Inca, and more. Outside the U.S., Indigenous culture remains strong. This is the unifying foundation of our concept of Latin.
Then, to quote salsa and Latin jazz legend Eddie Palmieri, “The Spaniard brought the African. The African put everyone to dance. In the States, they took away the drum, and we got the blues.”
The blues is the root of gospel, jazz, and R&B. Those are the roots of country, rock, pop, reggae, soul, Latin soul, funk, salsa, disco, house, rap, and trap; basically the popular music and dances of the U.S. and parts of the Caribbean.
In the Americas, Indigenous or African culture now dominates. Regions that are more Indigenous, remember and respect our African heritage too.
The sum of these traditions influenced the world. Even K-Pop is based on R&B and rap. Many traditions come back and get remixed.
Caribbean
Antiguan and Barbudan, Bahamian, Barbadian, Cuban, Dominican, Garifuna, Grenadian, Haitian, Jamaican, Puerto Rican, Trinidadian, Vincentian
North American
African American, Belizean, Costa Rican, French Canadian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Panamanian, Salvadoran
South American
GLOBAL ROOTS
European
The horror of the Colonial Era is over (or should be), yet it still devils us. On the other hand, European thinkers formed the Enlightenment ~ from Islamic, Native American, and Chinese ideas. Even in Europe, there is no pure anything. We are all mixed.
West African
Africa is Mother, the mother of all humanity. A lot of Latin culture has African origins. That’s equally true of American culture where the Jazz Age defines us. Much of today’s global youth culture has African origins through New York.
Beninese, Bissau-Guinean, Gambian, Ghanian, Ivorian, Guinean, Liberian, Malian, Nigerian, Senegalese, Sierra Leonean, Togolese, Yoruba
Central African
East African
Southern African
Asian
Arab traditions, like the Puerto Rican pandereta, came to the Americas through Africa. After abolition, some Asian communities came as indentured workers. Recent migrations also contributed to Latin culture.
Latin is various blends of all of the above, and New York City is our capital. Latin culture brings people together, and that is what makes New York The Greatest Show on Earth. ¡WEPA!
E-le-le, le-le-le… Ay! San Miguel