’We want our children to carry that pride’: North Bay moms at the heart of Latino tradition

In families everywhere, mothers are often the ones who keep traditions alive and preserve links to the past. That may be particularly true in Latino families, where moms are at the center.

Whether it’s through sharing music, cooking or dance with their children and grandchildren or by sustaining family connections across borders, these five local Latina moms are strengthening their cultural legacy for generations to come.

Amelia Morán Ceja

“Women have the ability to love, not just our children, but all humans. How do we show that love?” asked Amelia Morán Ceja, president of Ceja Vineyards in Napa. “We show that love through food.”

For Amelia, mother of sons Navek, 39, and Ariel, 37, and daughter Dalia, 35, the kitchen is where family gathers. Amelia and Dalia even share their passion for cooking with an audience far beyond the North Bay. They regularly post videos on their social media accounts of themselves cooking Mexican dishes and pairing them with their award-winning wines.

“I come from a ranch in Mexico where my Mama Chepa, my maternal grandmother, was the matriarch of the whole ranch. Like we say in Jalisco, she was a chingona,” Amelia said. Once a negative term for a woman, chingona more often now describes an assertive, capable woman who makes her own path.

“Her influence helped me become who I am today,” Amelia said. She learned how to cook starting at age 8 from her grandmother, using home-grown ingredients. Decades later, Amelia became the first Mexican American woman president of a winery, perhaps carrying with her some of her grandmother’s mettle.

As a child, Amelia would return from school with her classmates and sit on Mama Chepa’s adobe bench, waiting to be fed. “It was something so beautiful. How could I not share that with our family and the world?”

From the start, Amelia and her husband, Pedro, agreed in their vision of sharing their Mexican heritage with their children. All three kids had the opportunity to spend time in Mexico to learn Spanish and bond with their extended family. “I knew that it would strengthen their connections with our culture,” Amelia said.

“It has been really important to maintain my roots because I think that it’s more valuable to adapt to your new environment, which is here in the United States, but maintain the connections to our beloved Mexican culture.”

With the recent addition of a granddaughter, baby Luna, Amelia hopes to continue establishing these connections for generations to come. “The memories of the past generations, they will survive in Luna, with her kids and in the generations of the future.”

Rocio Beltran

Rhythm has been a thread through the fabric of Rocio Beltran’s family since before she was born. “We come from musical ancestors,” she said. “Music has always been present.”

Rocio’s father, a musician, taught her and her siblings how to play instruments from a young age. She later fell in love and married a man who also played music. Her husband, Jose, still plays in a banda group.

Rocio is the mother of three: Cesar, 13; Adrian, 8, and Dulce, 5. A fourth will soon arrive, a baby boy she’s currently expecting. For Rocio, it’s important her children are in touch with their Mexican roots, especially through music.

“Ever since they were little, we played music for them in the house and we would all dance together,” she said. Rocio especially loves playing old Mexican songs for them — the kind her grandfather loved — so her kids have that link to their past.

Both of Rocio’s sons have learned to play instruments and have performed with banda and mariachi groups locally.

For Rocio, imparting her heritage to her children goes beyond exposing them to Mexican music. “We have always talked to them in Spanish and English,” she said. Raising them in the United States while teaching them about their roots is a way to pass on strength and knowledge, she said. “I think that the more knowledge you have, the stronger you are and better prepared for life, because life is not easy.”

Isabel Lopez

When her daughter Isabella asked to join a Danza Azteca group, a group that practices traditional Aztec dancing, Isabel Lopez was fully supportive. She even joined Isabella.

“I believe in the concept of la cultura cura (culture cures), in terms of learning about where you come from and being empowered by identity and the history of the people that you come from,” said Isabel, executive director of the local nonprofit Raizes Collective.

She and her daughter began dancing with Danza Azteca Ohtli Yoliliztli in Santa Rosa, and Isabella gained more than a knowledge of traditional dance steps.

“She got to see how community spaces and circles like that helped not just myself, but also one another,” Isabel said. “It really does take a village to transfer these learnings to our kids. It doesn’t just come from an individual.”

Participating in the group has strengthened ancestral ties for both mother and daughter. “I am learning from our ancestors and how important it is to pass these traditions on,” Isabel said. “It really is a safe space that usually doesn’t exist in regular communities.”

Isabel wants her daughter to learn the value of interdependence and community, too. “That duality of when I heal, you heal and vice versa.” These are values her mother taught her, she said, exemplifying them when she took in and raised a child from another family when Isabel was young. “That's always been the way for our culture,” she said.

Isabel applies these values to her work with Raizes Collective, which aims to educate and empower young people through art and environmental justice.

“I always try to form relationships with the families (involved in Raizes Collective), so that they trust me enough to let me pick up their children, for them to participate in the programs that we do.”

Mariana Martinez

Mariana Martinez believes it’s important her son, Xoaquin, 6, knows both sides of his culture, the American and Mexican side. The Santa Rosa Junior College trustee and educator celebrates her son’s bicultural roots.

“I identify as Mexicana, Chicana and Latina,” Mariana said. “I think with him, his culture is a mix of both. In the United States, they don't see us necessarily as Americans. But in our home countries, they see us as Americanos, so I try to do both.”

To give Xoaquin a broad view of his heritage, she celebrates traditional Mexican holidays with him, like “Dia de Los Niños” (Children’s Day) and “Dia de Los Muertos” (Day of the Dead), while also explaining how those holidays are celebrated here in the United States. “I want him to understand the context,” she said. “He lives in this country, even though his roots are from somewhere else.”

It’s important to her that her son takes pride in his Mexican roots and absorbs strength and resiliency from them.

“I think that as Latina mothers, we want our children to carry that pride and love for our culture. I share all this with him because it is important and this is who you are.”

Maria Catalan De Manieri

“My children have been a miracle of motherhood,” said Maria Catalan De Manieri, mom of Stephanie, 24, and Victor Manuel, 21.

She raised her children with an “it takes a village” philosophy. They grew up in a multicultural home with the support of Maria’s mother and mother-in-law. “In our house, in terms of culture, it is Italian, Venezuelan and Mexican,” Maria said. “They have had a great fortune to be able to experience the cultures that my husband and I have brought to our home.”

Here in the United States, she and her husband continue to maintain some of the cultural practices their parents shared with them. “A tradition that we maintained with our kids was eating around the table,” Maria said. “That was very important with both of our parents to maintain unity in our family.”

Sustaining family unity across borders is also essential to Maria. She ensured Stephanie, a member of the Santa Rosa City Schools board, and Victor Manuel had the chance to travel abroad to meet their extended family.

“It's important for them to see ‘This is my family,’ for their future generations, so that those stories stay alive.

“We immigrated to the United States, to a country that we have made our home,” Maria said. “It’s very important for us that they love their culture and that they know where their parents come from.”