I have visited the Catholic Church in the neighboring city, which is mainly visited by people of Latin origin. It was a religious service named mass and had many rituals and prayers which contemplated different saints of Christianity. Latinos are the greatest wellspring of the Catholic places of worship in the U.S (Collado et al., 2016). Furthermore, the quantity of white Catholics has dropped, and Hispanics remain to be the main practitioners of the faith. The Catholic Church instructs that its clerics are the replacements of Jesus’ missionaries and that the pope is the replacement of Saint Peter upon whom power was presented by Jesus Christ.
The mass is the focal ceremonial custom in the Catholic Church, incorporating the Liturgy of the Word, where the bread and wine are blessed and turned into the Body and Blood of Christ. I will meet unimaginable individuals in confidence networks the nation over. They were energetic, peaceful pioneers, families giving the confidence to their kids in various dialects, youngsters knowing how to coordinate the Gospel in their lives, foreigners looking for another existence with similar longings as their sisters and siblings who have been in the country somewhat more.
Then, I went to the music festival, which was dedicated to Latino culture. It was a lively traditional event that had groups and individuals playing the traditional Hispanic instruments and singing ethnic songs. I volunteered to help with the background setting and invitation and distribution of the guests. It was a small concert with a vivid atmosphere where all people were relaxing and having fun at the same time. I have witnessed many details about the effect and importance of music in the lives of Hispanics.
The experience of actual cultural events compared to the expectations
I expected it to be a big familial gathering since I have studied that family is important for Hispanics more than for some ethnicities. Thus, both in the church and festival, people came with the members of their families. However, there were not many young people and teenagers. It seems that the religious practice is not popular among younger generations. Just about 14 million individuals who might have been in our networks participating in the ceremonies and knowing approaches to all the more likely live the Gospel. The vast majority of them (around 70%) settled on the choice to “leave the congregation” before the age of 24 (Collado et al., 2016). I saw that they trust altogether holy people and appeal to God for them. This was a sporting involvement in a bizarre.
I also did not expect that the music festival would be as lively and energized as it was in the event. I have read about the role of music and how Latinos make celebrations. Nonetheless, experiencing this, in reality, was different from literature. I understood why they have so many varieties of instruments as their sounds create a harmonious melody that heals people’s souls. Another interesting notice is that people who are usually less communicative and loud were fully engaged and extraverted at those two events I have visited. This is probably because they do not feel that they would be judged since they are surrounded by their families and people with similar ideas and values.
The emotional impact of participation in these immersion events
Since many of the visitors and the service practitioners used a lot of Spanish, it was difficult to understand their conversations. I felt a little lonely and like an outsider who does not fit in with the group. I can understand how Hispanic people and immigrants might feel as they live in a country where there are predominantly white people. I was already feeling anxious at the church, and long-term exposure to such circumstances may indeed bring stress and depression. Everybody there was of a similar language and ethnicity. They shared common values and understandings. I did not feel comfortable because I did not share those with them. This event showed me that being a minority comes with many challenges.
The person has to adapt to a profoundly different environment and find a common language with people who are culturally different. The unfamiliarity of such an encounter can be an unpleasant occasion, leaving an individual inclination an assortment of feelings like excitement, fascination, unreliability, isolation, insecurity, and distance. Thus, minority representatives may search for similar people to themselves to bring some soundness back into their life.
That is what I unconsciously tried to do when I was surrounded by a community of another culture. The individuals who cannot feel associated with a piece of the general public may feel estranged, insufficient, and discouraged, see an emotional drop in their scholarly exhibition, and may, in the end, leave the country. I felt pressurized to talk with the visitors as I was required to immerse myself in Hispanic culture. This was more difficult than I thought it would be. I was unconfident and shy even though I am usually the type to come and talk first.
The response to the events in the context of the cultural background
I am a white American which is a majority ethnic group in the country. I am not used to being outnumbered and have never had problems with adjusting to society as a society always constituted people of origin similar to mine. The events it was different, and I did not expect to be ‘outnumbered.’ I was a minority there and had a feeling that I did not belong there. For this reason, a sense of anxiety and insecurity occurred while I was immersing in the culture.
Lessons learned about culture through the events
Hispanic people highly value their family connections and prefer visiting all the events together with their relatives. Older people are more prone to participate in traditional religious events. It seems that Latin youth try to be modern and immerse themselves in American culture. This might cause the issue of losing identity as traditional practices play a crucial role in the perception and definition of self. Music and tunes have specific applications in the culture.
Instrumental music can be used for healing purposes of the soul and body. They mostly use guitar-like instruments such as El Tres or large drums such as Bango drums. Latin American music is especially portrayed by its noticeable utilization of percussion instruments. In Latin American customary religions, drums are viewed as hallowed instruments and go through a soul-changing experience to sacralise them. Conga-type drums and barrel-molded drums are found with territorial names in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil.
Other run-of-the-mill drums incorporate certain grating drums utilized in different people and well-known dance classifications. Dancing is a great part of music events, and Latinos like to engage in active, energetic dance movements, which create a generally positive atmosphere at the gathering. Dances are recreational and drive the involvement of the community. The church is important for Hispanic people, and spirituality and belief in the inner essence are the base of their conviction of the world. The attitude and environment in the Catholic Church are more serious than in the Baptist Church.
Counseling theories and techniques empirically validated as effective with the cultural group
One examination recommends that the PC helped CBT for nervousness problems as a component of the CALM (Coordinated Anxiety Learning and Management) program for uneasiness can be a successful treatment alternative for Latinos who are English talking and likely more assimilated (Chavira et al., 2014). While current discoveries don’t uphold the requirement for broad fitting of the CALM CBT mediation to address the issues of English speaking Latinos with nervousness issues in essential consideration, discoveries underscore the requirement for proceeding with endeavors to comprehend and improve the commitment of Latinos in proof-based intercessions (Olivos & Lucero, 2018).
Further, extra examinations with bigger example sizes, monolingual Spanish talking members, and normalized proportions of assimilation are justified to improve the proof base for CBT approaches with Latinos.
Problem Solving Therapy and Interpersonal Therapy are gathering a solid proof base among Latinos that should keep on developing. The expansion of studies that executed profound and surfaced social variations is empowering, and future correlations of adjusted and unmodified melancholy medicines may give significant understanding into systems through which explicit transformations influence discouragement results (Chavira et al., 2014). As excellent gloom treatment writing among Latinos keeps on expanding, the examination should zero in on explaining arbitrators and systems of progress, just as indicators of treatment maintenance.
References
Chavira, D. A., Golinelli, D., Sherbourne, C., Stein, M. B., Sullivan, G., Bystritsky, A., … Craske, M. (2014). Treatment engagement and response to CBT among Latinos with anxiety disorders in primary care. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82(3), 392–403. Web.
Collado, A., Lim, A. C., & MacPherson, L. (2016). A systematic review of depression psychotherapies among Latinos. Clinical Psychology Review, 45, 193–209. Web.
Olivos, E. M., & Lucero, A. (2018). Latino parents in dual language immersion programs: why are they so satisfied? International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(10), 1211–1224. Web.
Torres, S. A., & DeCarlo Santiago, C. (2017). Culture and Educational Stress and Internalizing Symptoms Among Latino Adolescents: The Role of Ethnic Identity. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 27(3), 344–366. Web.