There are few places in the world where you will see the majority of Spanish speaking countries unite for a day of unity and expression of different culture through music, dance, and costume. New York City is a world capital and hosts the Hispanic Day Parade on the second Sunday of every October. It’s only fitting to hold it during that time as it concludes the end of Hispanic Heritage Month. The parade is display of cultural pride right on 5th Avenue with many revelers bringing the own flag to unite briefly with the marchers. Typically, the event opens up with marchers carrying flags of the countries that are Spanish speaking.
The way this parade unfolds is that marchers from Spain begin the event singing and dancing. Their time period costumes let the crowd know the festive event is about to start. Then the parade of Spanish speaking nations begins in alphabetical order. First Argentina with their gauchos and traditional music. Unfortunately, this was the second year in a row there were no tango dancers. One of the biggest groups came from Bolivia with a wide variety of dancing groups but the most impressive were the Caporales with their jazzy costumes and high energy dances. Costa Rica had more participants this year than in previous years and even brought up a top notch marching band. Curiously absent this year were Chile and Cuba, however, the high energy the groups from Colombia more than made up for them. As in previous years, Colombia had a special guest getting the crowd all worked up. Michelle Char Fernandez was designated to preside over the role as Queen of Carnival in Barranquilla, Colombia in 2026. I was fortunate to go to my first Carnival this year and it was an amazing experience. I would recommend it to anyone.
Whips in hand came the diablos from the Dominican Republic. These are characters typically seen during Carnival time. This year Ecuador and El Salvador had enthusiastic groups representing their countries. Guatemala always has masqueraders that are a little unusual. Honduras had live entertainment with a popular singer. Nicaragua had a large colorful float with many dancers around it. Mexico had the biggest flags and traditional dancers. The biggest group came from Panama. They had the best uniforms of any of the marching bands of the event. Groups came from Panama City and beyond to participate.
Paraguay typically sends marchers balancing several bottles on their heads, however, strong winds cut the bottle count to just one. Peru had a nice size group this year with traditional dancers. They had lots of energy and were having lots of fun. Uruguay came back this year with their conga players and sultry dancers. They really had a great time getting the crowd worked up. Closing out the parade was a thin group from Venezuela. The event was filled with national and cultural pride. Everyone there can see the happy faces of dancers and marchers all up and down 5th Avenue. Que Viva La Hispanidad.
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