¡Las fiestas!

It isn't a secret that Peruvians love to celebrate. They have celebrations for just about everything- birthdays, deaths, hundreds of saints, various types of foods, you name it! But the time of the year they love to celebrate the most is Christmas. I have recently gotten the pleasure to pass Christmas here in Peru, and I would love to share my experience.
Christmas. The birthday of Jesus. In Peru, this time of year lasts from December 1st until the around beginning of January. First it starts with the Paneton and the hot chocolate (which they just call “chocolate”... which was very confusing for me at first). Paneton is essentially this huge cylindrical loaf of very sweet bread with all these gummy “fruit” pieces inside. The “Chocolate” is essentially hot chocolate on steroids-- loads of sugar, spices, and well, chocolate! And Peruvians don't like to just give you a little slice of Paneton. No. They give you like a fourth of the loaf on your plate. You pick it up and it's literally bigger than your face. And being culturally sensitive, you have to eat it ALL. And the several cups of liquid sugar that they give you... I mean hot chocolate. 0;-) Let's be honest here, I like my sweets! But for some extremely unfortunate reason----- I hate Paneton. I hate the smell, the taste, the texture, the stupid gummy pieces that get stuck to every part of your mouth. But, unfortunately... whether I like it or not, it really doesn't matter here. They're still going to serve it to you at every single gathering and you are still going to eat it. And with a smile!
So, if you can learn to manage the Paneton and the hot chocolate, you're off to a good start for the entire month of Diciembre. Next comes the music. Usually when Christmas comes around, I really look forward to my family popping in some Joni Mitchell Christmas classics or even the country versions of the same songs; however, for some reason this town of Nasca only has ONE Christmas CD. They play it in their houses, on the radio, in the streets, at mass, in the taxis, on the news, in the restaurants. It is everywhere. I try to be really culturally understanding, and for the most part I do pretty well with that here, but for the life of me I cannot understand why they like this one CD so much. It is literally a bunch of 10 year old kids screaming into a microphone in really high pitches singing words that I can't comprehend. After 2 weeks of it I thought I was going to run up the walls. Eventually, I asked my host family if we could switch it up a bit and play a Christmas CD that I had (thanks mom!). And that scheme worked............ for half a day. HAHAHAHA. It's a very interesting feeling to be counting down the days until Christmas, not so that Santa will come to give you presents, but so it can be over.
Besides these unusual experiences, there were also a lot of really chevre (cool) things about this time of year. One thing that really struck me was the dances. They have this certain type of dance that is very typical of this region they call “Negritos” (it stems from various types of dances from African slaves many years ago). Think of the dance style “step” back home... but with incredible Peruvian flair. It is a fun and enrapturing dance style that I grew to appreciate a lot. You may even find me practicing it in my room from time to time!
Another activity that the jovenes (younger crowd) participates in aside from the dances is the Nacimientos (Nativity scenes). I don't know if it's just Nasca, or Peru in general... but they are obsessed with Nacimientos. They is at least one in EVERY single building in the entire city. And it's not just the typical scene that one may think of with Mary, Joseph and the 3 wise men in a manger... but they have waterfall scenes, christmas lights, and an entire spread of about 15 different types of animal flocks. It's intense! Aside from this, every colegio (school) in the entire district has a Nacimiento competition. This consists of creating a real live Nacimiento scene (with the students as the various actors) and then acting out the entire Bible passage leading up to the birth of Jesus, acting out Mary's birthing pains and all. The donkeys, chickens, cows, ducks, and dogs played an integral role in the realization of this scene. ;D I enjoyed going to the various colegios to watch their plays. One time I even got to hold crying baby Jesus!
Speaking of baby Jesus...................... baby Jesus dolls are incredibly sacred here. They love them. At Christmas mass, all the girls, women, and even old ladies brought their individual plastic baby Jesus dolls in a cradle in order to be blessed by the priest with a shower of hold water. One time I went to mass with some Peruvians and after the service they all stood in a huge line in order to go up and kiss the plastic baby Jesus doll that the priest had. While standing in line I was kind of looking around for someone that was about to giggle too, but to my surprise everyone was extremely serious and anxious to kiss the plastic Jesus doll. (Also, what interests me even further is that all the baby Jesus dolls are white skin, blonde hair, blue eyes. It's not very difficult to realize the most respected race around here... but that is a topic for another time.)
So after you eat your Paneton, drink your Chocolate, dance with the Negritos, fix your Nacimiento, and get your baby Jesus doll blessed... you are ready for the festivities! When the clock strikes 12 midnight greeting the morning of the 25th the entire country is all out in the streets. Fireworks are everywhere- in front of every household, in the skies, everywhere. They are so loud that it sounds like a war of some sorts is going on. Kids are throwing them at each other, at the street lights, and into the skies. It's fun, exciting, and loco to say the least!
Overall, I am so glad I have gotten to experience this time of year here in Peru. There were a lot of things very different than what us Americans are used to, but I love how they have their own rendition. Although, because of this incredibly different Christmas atmosphere, I can't help but wonder what Christmas celebrations are like for other countries in the world. I'm so curious so if you have had a Christmas adventure in another country send me an email and let me know!
Hasta luego amigos~~ PS- I love your comments on this blog. I want to know your thoughts and questions and ideas! So please feel free......