Ottawa, Canada.
Transmit the Mayan culture, gastronomy, the folklore and art of Yucatan in the Spanish language, is the daily task of the teacher Beatriz Ceballos Pootwho received this Friday the Ohtli Prize, which is awarded annually by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) to Mexicans living abroad.
“It fills me with pride to teach the art and traditions of Mexico in Spanish to my students in Gatineau, a city located in southeastern Quebec, because that is how I fill the void I feel when I am far from my homeland (Mexico),,” Ceballos told Efe in Ottawa.
In an interview, ahead of the official event at the Mexican Embassy residence, he revealed that he had much to be grateful for the award, “but I promise to continue promoting the traditions of Mexico in this corner of Canada.”
Ceballos Poot teaches Spanish, as part of an international program at Le Carrefour high school in Gatineau, to Canadian students whose mother tongues are French and English.
Although she has lived in Canada for 20 years, she has been teaching for 13 at this school, where high school students sing the national anthem in Spanish, learn to make crafts and participate in Hanal Pixán (food for the dead ), one of the Yucatan gastronomic traditions that captivates the world and is reminiscent of the traditional Day of the Dead offering in Mexico.
Moreover, with the Aztlán Folklore Ballet, directed by Josué Nieto, and with the support of the Mexican consul in Ottawa, Juan Gabriel Morales, Ceballos also promotes the traditional dances of his native country throughout the world.
The professor, who toured Barcelona last July with the Ballet Aztlán, will receive the Ohtli in the Education and Culture categories.
The Ohtli Prize, which means “path” in the Nahuatl language, is awarded in different categories, in different parts of the world.
Telling his story, Ceballos recalled his beginnings as an English teacher at the National College of Technical Education (Conalep) in Mérida.
“The institution sent me for a course in Canada, I returned to Yucatan to share my experiences and after four months I emigrated to this North American country,” he recalls.
The teacher promotes ballet in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, France, Poland, Spain and other countries that she says “love our colorful dances and the joyful music of our indigenous peoples” .
“That’s why my students know and love my Mayan roots. They sing the Mexican national anthem and dress like mestizos in Hanal Pixán,” he proudly shared.
The Mexican, who has received other awards for Culture in Canada, wants the latter to realize another dream: to have Yucatan Week in Canada.
“Can you imagine the Folkloric Ballet of Yucatan and the Typical Orchestra of Yukalpetén, framed in a gastronomic show? It will be a great way to continue to show the Mayan heritage and traditions of the state where I was born,” he said.
Last August, she met in Yucatan with Mexico’s Culture Secretary, Alejandra Frausto, who congratulated her on the 2022 Ohtli Award and celebrated Ceballos Poot’s initiative to create Yucatan Week in Canada.
“A m the first Yucatan residing abroad to receive this award from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I hope my dream will come true,” he said.
Ceballos also hopes authorities value his Mayan roots, “not only because I promote art, food and culture, but also because my middle name is Poot.”
Another of his projects is to create the Club des Yucatecans in Ottawa, as he says “there are many of us in Canada”.
Before the medal was handed over by the Mexican Ambassador to Canada, Arturo Hernández Basave, Professor Ceballos, observed how civil and military authorities raised the Mexican flag to commemorate the CCXII anniversary of the beginning of independence.
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