Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of my family and friends!
I know it’s been awhile since I’ve last written, and lots of exciting things have happened! Most of my activities have finished for the moment because of the holiday season and summer vacation, but the past week was busy with Christmas preparations. Perú has very strong Christmas customs, and I really enjoyed immersing in the local traditions. There were also lots of bittersweet moments as the joy of the holidays clashed with the hard realities faced by this community.
During the week leading up to Christmas, the city was busy withchocolotadas, which are celebrations, generally for children, with hot chocolate and panetón, a sweet bread with dried fruit and gummy chunks in it. On Monday the youth movement in our parish hosted a chocolotada for children in need in our parish zone, and I wrote about it in our community blog here: http://www.iwmissions.blogspot.com/
My week was also busy with rehearsals for the Christmas play, put on by TEFA (TeatroFranciscano), the theater group in our parish. Due to a bit of a personnel shortage, I played Elizabeth, then an innkeeper, then a shepherd. I’m really enjoying getting to know the members of the theater group… they have lots of good energy and it is so apparent that sharing the spirit of love and community through theater makes them feel alive, and this brings me life as well.
Our Christmas festivities began with our theater performance at 9:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve, just before the Mass. It went well and the Mass was beautiful with the choir singing Christmas songs. It is Peruvian custom to gather with family Christmas Eve night and wait for midnight of Christmas Day, when the celebration really beings! We had been invited by the family of our friend Analí to join them for their family celebration, so we headed over to their house after Mass, arriving around 11 p.m. They had arrived just a half hour or so earlier from selling things downtown all day (because the downtown is packed with people on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day), so they were pretty tired but in good spirits (despite low sales… there hasn’t been much fish lately so there’s not a lot of money in Chimbote… the whole city’s economy depends on the fishing industry). We hung out with them until midnight, talking and watching Gregory, their 7-year-old son, play with sparklers. Then at midnight, the custom is to give everyone a Christmas hug (family and close friends), place Baby Jesus in the nativity scene (which they asked Kelli and I to do!), light fireworks (the whole neighborhood was full of the sights and sounds of fireworks... it was crazy!), and eat Christmas dinner. Our Christmas dinner consisted of turkey (delicious… though they said they had never eaten turkey for Christmas before… probably because it is much more expensive than chicken), French fries (with mayonnaise and salsa, of course), lettuce salad, hot chocolate (which they drink tons of during Christmas, even though it’s summer here… and they make the real kind with bars of chocolate, milk, water, cinnamon, and cloves), and panetón. It was a great meal. Then we sat and talked for a while… and around 1:30 or so Analí received a phone call asking if she could come sing at a Christmas party (she sings as a side job). Even though she was feeling terrible and very tired after working all day, she said she had to go because she is trying to earn enough money to get an ultrasound of her baby (she’s six months pregnant and the father wants nothing to do with it). The party happened to be close to our house, so we left in a taxi with her and came home. It was a great night, and they are a wonderful family… but it is hard to feel really good about it having to end like that.
We had been told prior to Christmas Eve night that the custom is to celebrate all night long. Well, we got home around 2 assuming our night was over, when five minutes later the phone rang. A few of our friends were wanting to go out! So we did…. We went to a friend’s house and listened to music, danced a bit, and talked… until about 7 a.m. It was super fun! It wasn’t quite as fun three hours later, when we woke up to get ready for Christmas lunch at the Sisters’… but definitely worth it!
Christmas Day, then, we had lunch at the Sisters’ with a group of about 20 religious men and women from different congregations in Chimbote. It was a lot of fun getting to know a few sisters and a brother sitting at my table, and the food was great! After lunch we played cards for a couple hours with some Dominican Sisters from the states. And after that I got to Skype with my family!
That about sums up the festivities. Now we await New Year’s Eve, which we hear is an even bigger all-night celebration, beginning at midnight with dinner with family, after which everyone goes out to celebration in the streets with friends and neighbors. Should be a great time!
It is definitely difficult to be so far from family during the holidays, and I miss them a lot! I am very blessed, though, to have already begun to form mi familiaChimbotana who help me to feel welcome and loved in my home here.
Hey Emily! Oh we sure missed you here and the only thing that made it better was knowing you were with such caring and hospitable people there! I will pray for the family that included you in their Christmas dinner so they will received blessings from God more than 10 fold! I love you and I miss you! Hugs and kisses! mom
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