Growing up a simultaneous bilingual of English and Tagalog, the way I learned language was akin to a matching game. In my mind, I'd jump between the two to bridge connections. Some words are direct loans (like keyk is cake) and others have a 1:1 translation (like kamay is hand). However, there have always been a handful of words from my home language that I'll never truly find one English word to encapsulate its essence.

One of those words is bayanihan.

A quick Google search will show you a picture of people holding up a house made of palm leaves sitting upon bamboo sticks with an explanation along the lines of "being a bayan" or "carrying the community."

While it's true, there's a bit more to this word.

A bayan is a "town" or "country;" the word's flexible definition reflects a time when there were no established nations. Your bayan is the land of your home and the people who are a part of it and the words related to it reflect that sentiment. Heroes are bayani, a person of your home, and the opening lines of the Philippine national anthem are bayang magiliw which means "land of the morning" (which is even represented by the sun on the flag).

The spirit of bayanihan is called upon in times of calamity in the Filipino community. In a land where monsoon season can flood entire towns or hurricanes flatten the cities, people carry each other through them, either through offering aid or rallying together to rescue those who need help. When the recent global pandemic ran rampant, communities collected resources like rice, noodles, fruits, and canned food to deliver to families, especially those with elderly relatives. In times of loss, of despair, and hardship, you can rely on bayanihan to see you through.

You care for your community and its collective well-being without the expectation of anything in return. You lift each other up knowing that together, even the most impossible tasks can be accomplished.

While this is a word with origins and spirit from the Philippines, its sentiment is seen all over the world. We all can participate in bayanihan - we all can lift up our communities through acts of service, kind words, and advocacy for equity, inclusion, and belonging for all.

You don't need to lift houses to build communities, but you do need everyone to work together to lay the foundations.

Check out these resources:

• Glen Grove's Collection of Hispanic/Latinx Books
• Library of Congress' Hispanic Heritage Month site
• Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month Activities by We Are Teachers
• Google Arts & Culture has a whole site dedicated to contemporary Latinx artists

As our district recognizes Latin American & Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrate with us with all of these fun events and activities. Thank you to our Multilingual Team & Spanish Community Liaison for creating this calendar!

There are many stories about the moon, especially of people or creatures living on the moon or becoming the moon. Around this time of year, many communities have celebrations of harvest, including the Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Festival, of Asian communities around the world. The celebration revolves around the story of Chang'e, who is believed to have taken an elixir that caused her to float to the moon. Learn about the story of Chang'e and the celebrations surrounding the Mid-Autumn Festival.

What stories do you share about your family?

• Katherine Ellison, Glen Grove Principal
• Aurora Joaquin, Glen Grove Speech-Language Pathologist
• Katelyn Kelleher, Glen Grove Psychologist
• Hedy Helfand, Glen Grove English Language Learning Teacher
• Lisa Funke, Glen Grove Learning Resource Center Director
• Nicole Bright, Glen Grove 4th Grade ClassroomTeacher
• Marie Chang-Pisano, Glen Grove Reading Intervention Associate
• Sylvia Gorski Duarte, District Title III Family Resource Teacher
• Lindsey Lurie, District Multilingual Instructional Coach

Email: GGCommunityProject@gmail.com