Behind the "official" silence and "out of sight" of most Mexicans, much of what was brought from Africa centuries ago has been preserved and continues to reveal itself in music, in regional festivals of Veracruz and along the Pacific Coast, in culinary styles, in their folk dances, language and religious practices and especially in the patterns of association and kinship which have survived. (Interview with Paulette Ramsay, 15 October 2013, Port of Spain, Trinidad)