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CELEBRACION ’96 SALUTES LATIN AMERICAN CULTURE

You can’t celebrate Latin America without Mexican tamales and tortillas. So that stuff will be featured prominently at Celebracion ’96, the Field Museum’s annual celebration of Latin American culture.

But don’t make a common faulty assumption: “Many people think the majority of (Latin American) Chicagoans are Mexican,” says Rosaura Boone, volunteer manager at the museum’s department of education. “So people tend to think Latin America is Mexico.

“If you’re in Miami, you will think Latin America is all Cuban people,” she says.

“The main challenge is to make sure everybody understands there is an incredible diversity of cultures, climates and people in Latin America.”

So, to broadly celebrate Hispanic culture, the two-day Celebracion — held over two weekends, Sunday and Sept. 28 — will cobble together dances, art, food and history from all corners of Latin America. Highlights:

– Pepian de Indio, or chicken stew, from the Guatemalan restaurant El Tinajon, as part of the Taste of Latin America, beginning at 11 a.m. both days.

– A lecture by Colombian doctor and novelist Manuel Zapata Olivella, at 10 a.m. Sunday.

– Haitian folk music (1 p.m. Sunday), Colombian ballet (noon Sunday), the Brazilian samba (3 p.m. Sunday and Sept. 28) and, of course, salsa dancing (2 p.m. Sept. 28).

– Displays by Chicago-area artists with Cuban, Colombian and Mexican roots.

Both festival days, at the Field Museum, Lake Shore Drive and Roosevelt Road, run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Museum admission costs $5 for adults, $3 for children, seniors and students. Call 312-922-9410, ext. 497.