November 12, 2014

UW to host second International Ladino Day Dec. 4.

The University of Washington Sephardic Studies Program and the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies will host the second annual celebration of International Ladino Day with an event at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, in Kane Hall room 130. The event is free and open to the public but advance registration is recommended.

International Ladino Day was begun Dec. 5, 2013, by Israel’s National Authority for Ladino to celebrate Ladino as a living language for the first time since 1492. Also called Judeo-Spanish, Ladino is the hybrid language born when Spanish-speaking Jews exiled from Spain in 1492 relocated across the world, particularly to the Ottoman Empire (including modern-day Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Israel). There, they integrated aspects of local languages into their Spanish over the next five centuries.

Since the turn of the 20th century, Seattle has been one of the most important centers of Sephardic culture in the United States, and home of some of the few remaining speakers of Ladino.

Last year, about two dozen cities around the globe participated in the first-ever Ladino Day celebrations. The UW hosted more than 300 guests who enjoyed songs, stories, proverbs and laughs. This year’s expanded event will showcase encore performances as well as new faces, ranging from UW students to community members in their 90s.

Devin Naar, assistant professor of history and international studies and chair of the Sephardic Studies Program, will be available to press before and during the event, and can be reached at denaar@uw.edu. Molly FitzMorris, a Jewish Studies graduate fellow and doctoral student in linguistics, co-organized the event and is at mkfitz@uw.edu. To learn more about the Stroum Center, contact Hannah Pressman, communications director and affiliate instructor, at pressman@uw.edu.

• Watch video highlights of the 2013 Ladino Day at Hillel UW, below.