So it has been quite a while since my last post, and I would like to attribute that to me being busy, and while at times I have, other times not. This past month has really been a blur and it’s hard to believe I’m now writing in 2011. Since my last post, among other things I’ve been to what seems like countless family celebrations of one sort of another, helped in the organizing of a college fair in the town over, and had my first Peruvian Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year. So while there is a lot to reminisce upon, I think the Christmas was one of the most interesting cultural experiences, interesting in the sense of not just differences from my own experience with the holiday but also the similarities (the first one being that it was about 85 and sunny as opposed to 20 and snowing).
To start, since Peruvian is an overwhelming catholic nation I noticed a lot of similarities in the way many of us celebrate in the states. They have nativity scenes and a Christmas Eve mass just as I have experienced but yet were a little different. Leading up to the holiday I had been asking people what to expect. What were the customs, what do people do afterwards, do they exchange presents etc. I found that some families will exchange gifts but there isn’t much emphasis on it, or at least not in my town, probably due the economic status of the families, the most important thing is to have a large family meal. Also leading up to the big day there are a wide array of ‘Chocolatadas’ that are held in the town from the plaza to neighborhood corners. As the name suggests there is hot chocolate served but also with Paneton (fruitcake), and usually chicken sandwiches. And to digress for a moment, Fruitcake is a craze in Peru. Leading up the holidays it’s almost in impossible to enter a store without finding a tower of the popular treat (although I must admit it is better than what I’ve had in the states). It is customary to eat it with hot chocolate or even some times soda I found, starting from about December 1st onward. But back the event, it is held for the kids, where they group together to dance and play various games from musical chairs, to trivia. Then at the end, they receive a gift, such as a doll or toy car. People form committees to raise funds far in advance, and since my host mom was on one I got to help out a little bit and experience it firsthand.
Then back the holiday itself, the main thing I got early on was that there is a difference in the timing of our celebrations. In the states where we typically celebrate on the 25th with a dinner around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, Peruvians celebrate at 12, midnight the night before. This traditional is simply called the Noche Buena. My family and most of the others in the town went to the evening mass that started at “8:30”, so we strolled in around 9:30. I had been to the church for various other things, but I think this was my first mass since I’ve been here and it certainly brought me back to my days growing up, fighting with my parents about having to go, but it was also kind of nice feeling to just be with so many people in my town and to not stick out as a foreigner whatsoever.
Then after all the farewells we all started back to the house for a long awaited meal. Now, going into the holiday I was expecting the meal to be lot different, being halfway across the world, yet to my surprise the most traditional meat served in Turkey. In addition to turkey people serve other meats, bread, empanadas, tamales, hot chocolate, and the much beloved, Paneton. We all managed to hold out till 12 am where it is customary for everyone to kiss a baby Jesus doll and then put him into his place in the Nativity scene in the home and then dig in. After dinner is where the tradition will vary from family to family, but there is generally drinking involved in the house or elsewhere. Some families will party till the wee hours in the morning, others will go out to a bar or club. My family stayed in and we enjoyed some wine and music, till about 3:30 or so, when I fell into bed exhausted from the day’s festivities.
