PLACENTIA : Observing Mother’s Day, Mexican-Style

In the course of two hours Thursday, students at John O. Tynes Elementary School performed a Mexican hat dance, ate tortillas and tacos and listened to a mariachi band.

It wasn’t Cinco de Mayo four days late. Rather, it was the school’s celebration of Mother’s Day in the Mexican tradition.

The fiesta, which culminated in a special stage show with poetry readings, songs and dancing, was part of the school’s effort to reach out into the Latino community. About 54% of the school’s 500 students are Latino, some of whom are enrolled in bilingual and English-language programs at the school.

Unlike in the United States, Mother’s Day in Mexico is almost as big an event as village celebrations for a patron saint.

“It’s celebrated real extensively in the schools, where poetry is read and children write for their moms,” said Lilia Stapleton, an English-language specialist who helped organize the event. “The kids make presents, but it’s much more than it’s done here.”

“Judging by this, it’s great,” said fifth-grader Matthew Hite, 11. “It’s like one whole giant party. . . . You get to learn about Mexico and other countries.”

Hite’s class was taught a Mexican folk dance, La Yenka, that was performed on an outdoor stage. Dancers must learn about half a dozen jumping steps, all of them different.

“Once you get it down, it’s pretty easy,” Hite said.

The week before the fiesta, many students made gifts for their mothers, including jars and refrigerator magnets. While some students saved up to buy a necklace or a sandwich-maker for their mothers, others put plenty of creativity in their own handmade gifts.

Ivan Sanchez, 7, who is in second grade, made a coupon book with slips of paper that his mother can cash with him when she wants him to do chores around the house.

“I’m going to clean the patio for her,” he said. “I’m going to do the dishes.”

Another Mexican tradition is a display of student writings about their mothers. Laura Hsu, a sixth-grader, wrote about the time she went shopping with her mother in Beverly Hills.

“My mom bought an expensive dress at one of the shops,” she wrote. “She knew my dad would get mad at her, so she had to sneak her dress in the house. She did regret it for a while, but she got over it.”

Others detailed the difficulties of being a mother, especially the hardships of a single parent trying to raise a family on a low income.

“Do you know all the things my mom has to do?” one student wrote in an unsigned essay. “My mom has to work and earn a living, plus pay rent. Then she has to take care of my brother, my sister and I. My mom’s job is definitely not easy.”