Navidad Chimbotana...la segunda

I´m back – the IW sisters have recently handed down to us an older computer of theirs that serves well in our house for writing blogs, etc, that can be saved and transferred later to my blog. So, I write these next blog entries from the relative comfort of our own house, where we do our best in the afternoon to lay low and stay inside, away from the strong afternoon heat of full summer.

My celebration of Christmas this year was very distinct from that of 2007, in many ways I was able to enter more fully, I felt, into the rites, festivities, and traditions. In general, I have noticed a big change in my perspective as I experience life here the second time around – for example this January I noticed clearly that the funk of homesickness and feeling out of place that I struggled with last year was not to be found. Below, you will see that even with all the new traditions we encounter, we still found time to bake and decorate Christmas cookies.
At Christmas, instead of just surviving, I participated much more – as an example, I learned a number of Peruvian Christmas carols, both through my singing in the choir and on the guitar from friends Roger and others. I took part, through our much-more-involved youth council, in the actual planning and orchestration of events – a children´s Christmas party, first-ever Christmas Carol festival in the parish, and a Christmas play at Christmas Eve mass – that left great memories for myself and others in the parish. Children´s Christmas parties here are called chocolatadas, because – copying their cold weather counterparts in North America – they serve hot chocolate, even though the heat has already made its first inroads. In addition to hot chocolate, a chocolatada necessarily includes panetón (see previous blog entry), songs and choreographed dances (our parish youth dance group took this on), games and contests, and giving presents. Coordinators of our eight parish neighborhoods invited specific families whom they felt were of the most need, and the youth council decorated the parish hall with lights, balloons, paper-cutout snowflakes  and a large Nativity Scene of styrofoam cutouts (picture below).



Taking advantage of the decorations, we had planned a first-ever Christmas music festival for the evening, following the afternoon chocolatata. Various groups within the parish prepared acts, including a first-communion children´s choir, the two youth/young adult choirs, a couple solo singer/guitarists, our English class (classics in English!), and a composite ´all-star´ group from the two choirs. All in all, December 23 was a beautiful night of music and fellowship, the black styrofoam silhouettes of Mary/Gabriel, the shepherds, and Mary/Joseph/donkey that the youth council had created at our house adorning the candlelit walls. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted photos of these decorations before saving them – but I did record several of the songs from that night on a new digital recorder, a Christmas/birthday gift from my brother Ryan. As a sidenote, several of these songs, plus some English Christmas carols that my housemate Courtney and I recorded, can be accessed for your listening pleasure at www.reverbnation.com/raymundoycorina. I performed in two groups that night, singing with my choir Trovadores del Evangelio (Troubadors of the Gospel) and accompanying Julie, Jane, Courtney and our English students on guitar (see photo of us on stage below).


Not taking much of a break following the chocolatada and music festival, at 9:00 mass on the 24th a group of 20 of the Confirmation youth put on a Christmas play in the church – a combo of the classic Nativity story and a telling of how St. Francis initiated the tradition of Nativity Scenes by orchestrating the first ´live´ nativity scene in the 13th century. We lacked a couple actors to fill all roles, so I stepped in as Friar León, companion of St. Francis. Unknown to all of us, the priests envisioned the entire cast remaining up front, as a living nativity scene, during the entire mass. Sitting on the floor in bare feet and my Franciscan robe, surrounded by teenage Mary and Joseph, angels, squirrelly young shepherds, etc – a Christmas Eve memory that I will not soon forget.

Though utterly exhausted due to the event, rehearsal, and preparation schedule of the previous days, mass here marks just the beginning of the Christmas celebration, which for all takes place on the 24th and not on the 25th. Tania, a friend of ours from the parish, invited the four of us foreigners to her home for Christmas Eve, la Noche Buena. Tradition is to, at midnight, place the baby Jesus in the Nativity Scene, give hugs all around, and open presents (they had one or two for each person, including one for each of us). Also at midnight, some folks set off fireworks in the street. Finally, a Christmas dinner is served: chicken (or turkey), potatoes, and of course panetón and hot chocolate. Following dinner, the prerequisite for any party – music and dancing. I have only foggy memories of the next couple hours, fighting doggedly to avoid falling into a deep slumber on the couch. Mercifully, we left ´early´ and I was in bed by 3:30 am or so. Christmas itself was low-key – we had a lunch invitation at the home of a community of Dominican sisters here, the same place I shared Thanksgiving with the year before with Emily and Nicole. Several other displaced norteamericanos were also present, as were our own IW sisters for a pleasant outside lunch of chicken, ham, yams, mashed potatoes, salad, and ´pumpkin´ pie. Finally, we four held our gift exchange at home around our two-foot artificial tree and under our hanging snowflake decorations and then laid down for a well-deserved rest.