'Mi casa es su casa': El Salvador pavilion extends warm welcome after 9-year Folklorama absence

After nine years without a presence at Folklorama, the El Salvador pavilion is back with a new Salvadoran-inspired, Manitoba-made brew on tap and the same old warm invitation to Winnipeggers.

"Mi casa es su casa," pavilion co-ordinator Jenny Briones says, explaining "my home is your home" nicely captures the spirit of Salvadoran culture that will be on display at the Bronx Community Centre from Aug. 12-18. 

El Salvador joins the Métis pavilion as one of only two "new" pavilions at the 49th annual Folklorama.

Although both previously had a presence at the festival, it's been nine years since the local Salvadoran community last fed festival-goers a home-cooked meal of chicharrons and pupusas — the former a dish of fried pork belly or rind, the latter a thick corn-flour pancake stuffed with beans, cheese and meat or veggies.

Other dishes include panes con pavo, a turkey sandwich with watercress and cucumber; semita, a pineapple compote-filled tart; and tamales, a masa or dough that is wrapped and steamed in banana leaf.

Children's author Alejandra Labbe de Abrego, textiles artist Secretos de Belinda and artisan potter Wo are all coming in from El Salvador to showcase their works and wares, and Winnipeg-based dance group Ballet Folklorico Raíces de El Salvador and Folklore Salvadoreno en Calgary will be performing.

Along with a variety of artists and dancers from El Salvador and other parts of Canada, the pavilion will be bumping into the night with Latin-fusion bands and music by DJ Gota.

Sweaty partiers will get to quench their thirst with a locally produced pilsner, inspired by Salvadoran beers, that will only be sold during Folklorama (at least for now).

Jesse Lemus, owner of Latinos Market on Osborne Street, has hired five casual employees to help him hock hot sauces, spices, souvenirs and other Latin American goods at the Salvadoran and four other pavilions.

"We need to celebrate our differences instead of creating separations or divisions between us," said Lemus, 25, a Spanish immersion teacher whose mother and father were born in El Salvador and Guatemala. 

Winter-peg a 'shock'

Manitoba is home to about 2,700 people from El Salvador or born to Salvadoran parents as of 2016, says Statistics Canada, compared to more than 66,000 Canada-wide.

Briones said Winnipeg's cold winters are always one of the more challenging elements for newcomers. 

She immigrated to Canada from El Salvador with her family as an eight-year-old and grew up in Winnipeg.

"What I remember from home is just having the family feeling, and I think it's the same in most Salvadoran homes," she said. "You live with the entire family in one house.… All the cousins and everybody grows up as brothers and sisters."

They arrived on the Prairies in December 1987, and she still remembers her first chilly impression.

"It was quite the shock to the system for sure," she said, recalling feeling like a "little green robot" in the unfamiliar puffy snowsuit she was forced to wear. "My sister really hated that, but I enjoyed just going in and playing with the snow."

'Where we feel more at home'

Over the years, Winnipeg has become her second home, and she can't seem to get away from the city for too long.

As a teen, her family moved to Montreal, where she finished high school before moving back to Winnipeg. Then she met her Chilean husband, and they married and lived in B.C. for two years.

When it came time to start a family, the Prairies pulled them back.

"No matter what we do, we always seem to be back in Winnipeg. It seems to be where we feel more at home," she said.

Feeling an urge to teach her children about their culture, Briones decided to get involved with Folklorama and the El Salvador pavilion sponsors, the non-profit organization Canadians-Salvadorians in Winnipeg (CASA).

Phys-ed teacher Oscar Calix and wife Neria Barrera founded CASA in 2013 to help send medical supplies and wheelchairs back to El Salvador, inspired by their son Chris Calix, who relies on a wheelchair to get around.

The focus has since broadened to also promote Salvadoran culture in Winnipeg.

"I believe that our kids and the new generation upcoming needs to be involved and know where their roots come from," Briones said.

Positive for Salvadoran youth​

CASA vice-president Sofia Soriano, 26, is also passionate about building a sense of community for Canadian-born Salvadorans like her daughter who just finished kindergarten in Earl Grey School's Spanish immersion program.

"What happens with a lot of children of immigrants, they don't want to speak the language; they're ashamed," she said.

The immersion program and Folklorama help Canadian-born Salvadoran kids develop a positive relationship with the culture, she said.

Soriano's father, a doctor, and her mother, a dentist, came to Winnipeg so their three kids could get good educations and careers. Things seem to be going as planned. 

Soriano has followed in her mother's footsteps and now works as a dental assistant, while her twin sister is an engineer. Her other sister was recently accepted to med school and her youngest brother just graduated from Kelvin High School's international baccalaureate program.

She echoed Briones when describing the atmosphere Winnipeggers can expect to find at the pavilion.

"We're the smallest country in the Americas but we are very warm people. We're very welcoming, and so we want our visitors to feel like home," she said. 

New brew

And that warmth comes with a refreshing chill this year with the limited production of Ola Sabor Latin, a fizzier pilsner that Marvin Dubon helped make a reality. Dubon, 50, helped import ingredients from El Salvador and teamed up with a local brewery to get the limited-edition beer ready just in time for Folklorama.

He moved to Winnipeg nearly 30 years ago but his voyage to Canada started at 15, when he fled death squads and other violence during the Salvadoran Civil War. It raged on for about 12 years and left more than 75,000 dead.

Dubon eventually made his way into the U.S. illegally through Mexico and went to high school in Austin, Texas. He came to Winnipeg in 1989 to make a better life.

Now an entrepreneur and owner of Mexican restaurant JC's Tacos and More, Dubon has become motivated to get more involved in the Salvadoran community for the sake of younger generations.

His daughter is one of the pavilion youth ambassadors.

"I want her to know the culture. I want her to be part of what I was once [part of]," said Dubon.

He hopes other Winnipeggers take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about his culture this Folklorama.

The El Salvador pavilion runs from Aug. 12-18.