Glen Grove Community Project

An elderly man approached me and asked about it.

"It's called the mano," I explained, "It's a greeting from Filipino culture. That's how we greet our elders."

"That's very sweet," he commented, "Thank you for telling me about it."

Displaying mano po is a tradition that is reflexive to a lot of Filipinos, ingrained in our cultural norms and identities. When you break down the words, 'mano' comes from the Spanish word for 'hand' (as reflected in a lot of Filipino words borrowed from years of Spanish colonization). The word 'po' is an additive word to signify respect when addressing elders (you'd even say "hello po" when greeting an older person). When you see an elder relative, such as an aunt/uncle, grandparent, parent, or even notable community members, the mano po is performed to show respect and acknowledge that they have come before you in years and experience. In turn, the elder is supposed to wish you good blessings or bestow kind words.

It's a tradition I don't often think of because I do that almost every day - it's like driving or brushing your teeth. It's just another way of greeting someone, similar to a handshake or a kiss on the cheek (which we also do, known as the 'beso-beso'). However, it's an important gesture many Filipinos do to show our connection to our families, whether it has been years since we've seen them or if it was just that morning before heading off to work.

I was happy that the man at the restaurant asked about it, that in small way that act of greeting my parents was a window into my culture and his own curiosity made me reflect on how even the traditions of the everyday can be great ways for us to learn more about our neighbors and the things that are important to us, such as our connections to our loved ones.

• 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

The GGCP acknowledges the land upon which Glen Grove School stands on and in being part of this community, we want to share resources to further our students' and families' knowledge of the land and respect communities of past and present.

Special thank you to Dr. Ellison for also donating on behalf of the GGCP as part of the land acknowledgement at the most recent Remembering Loved Ones Event on October 25, 2024.

• Katherine Ellison, Glen Grove Principal
• Aurora Joaquin, Glen Grove Speech-Language Pathologist
• 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
• Jill Burns, Glen Grove Science Coach
• Sylvia Gorski Duarte, District Title III Family Resource Teacher
• Lindsey Lurie, District Multilingual Instructional Coach

Email: GGCommunityProject@gmail.com

Instagram: @ggcommunityproject