Counting My Blessings

First, I would like to start off this blog with a clip from one of my favorite movies of all time, White Christmas.  When I was a little girl, I fell in love with this movie during the Christmas season and ended up watching it year round.  Looking back, I think this movie is where my love for dance started.  This here is my favorite non-dance scene.

(to those viewing this blog post as an email, click on the grey "Perusing PCV" text at the top to view this on the web with the videos).

Like the song says, I am counting my blessings this year.  I had some strong bouts of homesickness, similar to my birthday and Thanksgiving, but overall Christmas has been great here, even with the lack of snow and Christmas sweaters.  But hey, it legitimately RAINED last night, it's a Christmas miracle!  My brother ran out of the house to twirl around in it.  I guess this is like a coastal Peruvian White Christmas?

So, some things about Christmas are the same here, and some are really different.  Christmas trees are common and Santa comes here too, still as a big fat white guy with blue eyes and a huge red coat, even though it's summer and he's called Papa Noel.  But he's not as omnipresent here as he is in the States, it's a lot more about baby Jesus.  And presents aren't as big of a deal as they are in the States.  Kids still get presents, but only one or a few depending on the family (if they can afford any).  Most adults don't exchange presents, although my host family got me an adorable huge teddy bear.  I laughed pretty hard, but thought it was kind of perfect at the same time.  It gets pretty lonely up on the second floor sometimes!

Christmas is celebrated at midnight, centered around two things: 1) the nativity scene and 2) dinner.  Every family, office, etc. has a nativity scene, with the classic Mary and Joseph, 3 wise men, etc. but some also add random animal figurines... chickens, cows, etc.  Earlier this month I was distracted in the local charity's office when I noticed a T-Rex in their nativity scene.  I laughed pretty hard and pointed it out, thinking that someone had put it there as a joke, but the guy I was with didn't get what was funny.  Oh dear.

The nativity scene in the Principal Park of Monsefú... no dinosaurs in this one.

Anyway, my host family's nativity scene was a lot more like that one I grew up with, just a small set of figurines on a table.  But there is one thing that is different here, that the baby Jesus isn't put into the scene until midnight on Christmas Eve.  So my host family joined hands, said Our Father and Hail Mary prayers, and my host mom gave me the honor of placing the baby Jesus into the scene.  Then we passed over to the dinner table and had a beautiful, delicious dinner of turkey, peas, and empanadas.  Everyone was in really great spirits and it is definitely a memory with my host family that I will cherish.

So that's essentially all of the family Christmas activities, along with house visits from other family members and lots of phone calls.  But I still haven't described one of the main parts of Christmas in Peru... CHOCOLATADAS.

The word means "chocolate party" because all the kids who attend receive hot chocolate along with panetón (sweet bread with raisins and fake fruit in it) and probably some garbanzo beans and an empanada.  The hot chocolate part doesn't make a lot of sense because it's summer here, but the tradition must have started a long time ago to imitate some American or European tradition.  There's also usually a lot of dancing and payasos (clowns) to get the kids tired before they give out the food. So the chocolatada involves not only food, but also each kid getting a toy (a little truck or gun for boys, and dolls for girls).  Now, this part is pretty complicated.  A lot of the kids and parents who attend are not shy about trying to hide the toys they have already received in order to get more for themselves or relatives.  For example, if there is a line, the kid or mother will get back in line (or completely ignore the line) and pretend they didn't get anything yet.  Various systems have been created to prevent this, for example only giving presents to kids who have tickets and then ripping up the tickets after the present has been given, but people are really, really, insistent.  I don't know what else I can say about this topic, except that for a poor family here, toys are a big deal and there is a different cultural attitude towards hand-outs, where a lot of people feel very entitled to them, or they feel that they have to fight to get their fair share.  Coming from a different world, it is hard for me to deal with this part of the chocolatadas, when mothers are begging or screaming at me and others to give them more presents.  Of course, for every mother or child that acts shamelessly, there are other mothers and children who quietly wait their turn and tell me honestly if they've already received a present.

To date, I have participated in seven chocolatadas of all shapes and sizes (have an 8th scheduled for the 28th), three of which were more like sit-down dinners for adults (senior citizens, artisans, and ex-combatants in the Battle of 1941 with Ecuador).  The ones for kids ranged from about 40 kids to ... 3,000.  The huge one was organized by the Municipality, and they actually had a pretty interesting system to avoid the double-gifting.

All of the presents and holiday baskets in the Municipality

Panetones take over the Mayor's office

As you'll be able to see in the video below, thousands of people lined up during the chocolatada dancing activities to get a good spot.  After the dancing ended, the doors to the central market were opened just enough to let people in one by one, and with the help of the police, we were able to usher people into various lines around the counters of the market.  It got a little more disorderly once the market started filling up, but the idea was that everyone would be brought into the market, all the doors would be closed,  the toy-and-panetón giving would begin at various stations, and those who had received would be ushered directly out a different door.  One way in, one way out, so that people couldn't get back in line... kind of an enormous fire hazard, considering that the market has been declared structurally unsound, but hey.  It generally worked pretty well, although there were still plenty of people begging and screaming at the doors.  When it was finally over (3 hours later), we realized that the staff and volunteers were stuck inside, because all the doors were occupied with people screaming at the mayor to open the doors and give them presents.  We took to hiding in the back office and once it calmed down enough outside, a staff member slipped out to bring some soda and a few panetones to us.  It turned into a really great memory for me, sitting on a counter, laughing and talking with the mayor and some of the people who have become my friends here.

Some of the staff and volunteers after finishing the enormous chocolatada; Edgard, Jesus, and Bridgette in the middle

Subtracting the stress and chaos that comes with the chocolatadas, I've had a lot of fun helping out at these events.  I generally took the role of body guard to those handing out the presents, since I'm taller and foreign, I guess people listen to me!  Each event was a way for me to share some Christmas time with the people that are important to me here... the artisans, the Municipality staff, the teenage Señorita and Cholo Fexticum, the leader of an outlying town, and the women's committee.  Another favorite memory of this Christmas season was after a dinner in the Municipality, when all the guests left the cumbia music was turned up and the mayor, regidores (like a Board of Directors), and women's committee shared a dance together- it happened to be to my favorite cumbia song, so everyone had a great laugh when I started belting out the words.

Having a great time with the mayor, regidores, and women's comittee

I dearly, dearly miss a lot of things at home during this holiday.  It has been even harder than my birthday or Thanksgiving.  But I am counting my blessings, todas mis bendiciones.  I have the best job in the world, and feel very privileged to be granted such an opportunity to travel, learn, and share.  I have a very colorful host family that teaches me new things every day, and I have grown much closer to my host mom during this Christmas.  I have internet access and am able to stay in touch with family and friends at home.  I have friends in Monsefú who really look out for me and I am finally feeling at home here.  And I am happy, healthy, and safe.  And I feel that I am growing into a much stronger person.

My biggest blessing of all is you, my family and friends.  I want to sincerely thank you for your support in whatever way it has been, through email, gChat, Skype, Facebook, blog comments, care packages, or prayers.  To my parents, godparents, aunts, uncle, and other family and friends, I hope you know that it makes so much of a difference to know that my loved ones are thinking about me at home.  I am very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.  MERRY CHRISTMAS and bring it on, 2012!!