Young Dreamers Graduate and We Celebrate Christmas with a Boom

            Last Friday night we had a graduation party for three of the Young Dreamers that graduated in October! (The school year here goes from January to October.) All three were girls and part of the first ten to graduate. Now girls have several graduates to look up to that have shown them a path, so a huge accomplishment. The party itself was really fun and I felt we connected with all the Young Dreamers a little bit more that night. We started off by eating the traditional platter called pepian which is a bunch of cooked vegetables and spices mashed into a sauce which is over chicken and vegetables like carrots, potatoes and guisquil. After dinner we all started chatting but people started hitting the balloon around. What started as a simple game of pass soon turned into a war with people throwing balloons at each other and popping them in each other's face. Everyone was scrambling to yank balloons of their own of the ceiling and to cover their ears from the noise. That was really fun but, as you would think, we ran out of balloons very quickly. The balloons stopped and it was time for words. The graduates all spoke about how grateful they were to everybody who helped them achieve their dream and graduate and how special it was to them. The parents also spoke about how proud they were of their kids and grateful that they could get an education. Afterwards my dad touched on how special and amazing the moment was, celebrating the graduation of three girls out of high school that otherwise would have had to start working after 6th grade. A great party with an even greater significance.

Here in Guatemala you feel the Christmas spirit a little differently. They celebrate on the 24th, Nochebuena, and stay up late into the night. They don’t put as much lights and decoration outside on the street, but there’s a lot inside the houses. Each house is decorated by a nativity scene, some bigger than others. So far all the ones I’ve seen have been really nice with elaborate little people and animals. Until midnight on the 24th, they don’t put baby Jesus out though, because he wasn’t born yet. In Guatemala they also have the tradition of the posadas from the 16 of December up to the 24. The posadas are a reenactment of when Mary was pregnant and she and Joseph were looking for a place to stay. People go around singing and playing music until they get to a pre-designated house where they move the statues of Joseph and Mary for the night. We actually got invited to one. Since our friend Hugo was receiving a posada, he invited my family to come along. When we got to his house we had to go pick up the statues of Joseph and Mary from the previous house where they were the night before. When we got there we got handed all the lanterns and the musical instruments like a flute or a drum. Anybody who wants to can come along and the family from the night before walked with us. Along the way we picked up a few people so there was a pretty big group walking and singing. I actually got a chance to hold the platform with Joseph and Mary on my shoulder and it was pretty special. When we got to Hugo’s house they did a song where Joseph and Mary are asking to stay in the house and some people inside answer. This is a big tradition in the Catholic religion, so like in India when we saw Hindu traditions, now we participated in one that is Christian.

One thing that’s really popular and that everyone does is shoot fireworks and firecrackers. Pretty much all of December they burn, especially as it gets closer and closer to Nochebuena. Around Christmas you can stay awake late into the night hearing music and drums, and also booms and kapows! The 24th was awesome! We went to my mom’s childhood friend’s house and then later my great-great uncle’s house and we had a blast. Before midnight, the adults eat and talk, and the kids play games and watch movies. We had a lot of fun at the first house, then we left to go to my great-great uncle’s house for midnight. At first when we were at his house we just talked and told jokes. The point is to try to have fun and be with friends and family until 12:00. At midnight everybody gave hugs and said Merry Christmas. The traditional food to eat are tamales, but we ate turkey and salad. After dinner my brother, cousins and I all went out to burn little firecrackers and sparklers. It was really fun, we did a war type thing where we threw some little poppers that just made noise at each other. We did that until about 2:00 in the morning! By then everyone was getting really tired so we sat down and played some board games. The adults kept talking for another hour and a half, but still we kids hadn’t gone to sleep. I finally went to sleep at 4:00 in the morning! Here Christmas sure is different than in the US, but it’s still special and fun.

I had a great Christmas and I hope you did too. This week, we’re off from our Spanish class and home school, so we’re visiting friends and volunteering up in Vuelta Grande to continue getting the school ready.

I hope you all have a Happy New Year!