Feliz Navidad y Año Nuevo!

"...en la Navidad hay servicio en la iglesia y después quemamos muchos cuetes!"

(On Christmas there is a service in the church and afterward we set-off many firecrackers!)

I have been hearing that line from Axel and Alfredo Jr. ever since I moved in with them in October and they learned that I would be celebrating Christmas with them.  Fireworks have been sounding regularly here since my arrival, but it seemed that Christmas Eve would be the grand finale.

Chrismas in Guatemala is celebrated on the 24th of December with a service at the church from about 8pm until 12am and special tamales served only at this time of year.  My favorite part of the service was the two skits performed by the youth.  The first one was a narrative of the Christmas story from the gospel of Luke.  The second skit was written by the youth leaders and explained the importance of attending church services.  These skits were performed in Kekchi and unfortunately, I missed most of the lines because my translator, Axel, was laughing too hard to do any translating for me!  Instead I focused on the acting and costumes used. The group certainly liked grease paint and wigs: most of the actors had paint liberally applied to their faces and sported light brown wigs.  I love local creativity; I believe that using one's own ingenuity is one of the best ways people can display their love toward God.

The play:  Two girls in the audience and some sheep

The angel visiting the shepherds

As for the fireworks, the neighbors did not waste any time.  During the pastor's sermon, a half-dozen "bombas" sounded, producing a blast equivalent to the oxy-acetylene bombs used by celebrants in Lancaster County.  The noise did not seem to phase the pastor at all because he continued with his sermon without loosing his concentration.  I guess he is used to it by now.  Since I am not much of a night owl, at 12am I departed from the closing service, returned to my room, put in my earplugs and slept soundly!

The next celebration occurred on December 31.  My host family asked me specifically not to go anywhere that day because they wished for me to be present for a special evening meal.  A turkey was bought for the occasion because all the children living away from home came home.  The family rooster, along with a couple stewing hens, was also thrown into the pot with the turkey.  I was secretly happily to see the rooster in the broth.  He has seemed to enjoy vocal exercises outside my room as early as 2am.  There are still neighbors' roosters filling in his role, but their volume is down considerably and rarely bothers me.

See ya' later gallo!

After supper, we again went to the church for a late night service.  It seems that New Year's Eve is a popular time to attend church.  The service was packed with neighbors I have never seen in church before.  Everyone was sporting his or her best attire.  All the children in my host family had either purchased or made new outfits.  I again retired for the night wearing earplugs, which was a good thing because the next morning Axel and Alfredo Jr. eagerly told me of all the "cuetes" they had set-off that night.  They did not go to bed until 3am!

New Year's day downed sunny and abnormally quiet.  I did not hear a single firecracker... until after 12pm!  In the afternoon, Mario wanted to make new kites, which was fine by me.  I am now on my 3rd kite.  I am learning that few kites make multiple flights into the skies of San Juan Chamelco.  Tree limbs and telephone wires are full of kites that made their last flight.  We have been flying our kites at the stadium, where there is sufficient space to fly, but either the string breaks or the frame gives-out causing the kite to crumble like a dead bird and drop out of the sky.  Oh well, it is fun while it lasts and we get to continue building kites!

Building kites (left to right) Mario, Alfredo Jr., Stefan and Axel.

My apologies for the lack of photos in this update.  Either my pictures did not turn out well or I did not have my camera at the opportune moment!  I will try to do better next time.