feliz navidad

Last year I spent Christmas here in Tacuati, but my friend Carole and her boyfriend came to visit so I didn’t really get the full Paraguayan Christmas experience. This year I did, and it’s been great. A few days before Christmas, the Church (staffed here by an Italian priest and nun) pulled off a huge delicious dinner in the Centro Cultural, complete with a nativity play. The kids had worked for hours every single day to prepare for this, and it showed – there wasn’t a line forgotten or a costume out of place. At first I was a little nostalgic thinking how in all parts of the world kids are putting on nativity plays, but then my thoughts turned instead to the somewhat scary scope of the Roman Catholic Church’s reach.

On Christmas Eve Day (called Noche Buena) things were pretty chill and normal, though everyone was out and about, buying ingredients and clothes for the holiday (apparently everyone wears new clothes on Christmas Eve, to start the year right or just to show off). I had been invited to spend Christmas with several different families, and had to make the rounds to ask them specifically for when I had been invited, since the invitations were somewhat vague. But I crafted a carefully laid out schedule for Christmas Eve, put on my cute but not new outfit and met Mary (the other PCV in town) for our tour.

First we went to the home of Tomaza and Cenon, a really sweet couple who have been friends of volunteers for years. There we got our first taste of clerico, which is like sangria, wine mixed with lots of fruit and soda. We sat and chatted as the family took turns showering and preparing their chuchi clothes for the evening. When the bell rang signifying only an hour left til church started, we begged off, having completely exhausted conversation there and wanting an excuse to move on to my friend Betty’s family’s house, which I knew would be more raucous and fun.

And it was. There Betty and 7 of her 8 siblings celebrated with more clerico, Budweiser beer and cidra (fizzy apple cider) and a tv set up with video clips outside on the patio. There were kids running around everywhere and lots of people to talk to. They were insulted that we weren’t drinking more, but Mary and I were trying to pace ourselves for the long night ahead. At 10pm some of the family went to mass, but most stayed to party it up, and at 11pm when mass was over Mary and I said our goodbyes and moved on to our next stop.

I had been invited to Elisa’s house for Christmas dinner, and it felt right to be back with my old host mom and her family, who feel like my Paraguayan family since I spent my first two months living with them. The kids practiced setting off firecrackers and we sat our front and drank cidra until the midnight countdown began. Here everyone awaits midnight on Christmas Eve just like New Years Eve, there was a countdown on the radio and then all over town (all over Paraguay!) at midnight the fireworks started. We had to kiss and congratulate every member of the family and then got to sit down for a huge meal, with turkey, a big treat. Once we had stuffed ourselves and continued drinking cidra and more clerico, it was clear the momentum had gone. Elisa and her sister had spent the past three days cooking, in preparation for the church dinner and then tonight’s feast, and were just wiped out. Us kids, though, were ready to party, so Elisa’s niece and I left around 130am to go to the big fiesta in the municipality.

All the young folks in town were there, in their Christmas Eve best, to celebrate the birth of Christ in style. There was more beer, lots of dancing, and at 330am I called it quits and came home, though as always I could still hear the music from the muni clearly in my house. This morning, it was like the whole town is hungover (and they probably are). I slept til 11am (it started raining around 8am so that cooled everything off and helped lull me back to sleep), and when I went to buy yogurt on the corner, my neighbor was only just sweeping the front porch, a task which is usually completed well before 7am. I’ve had a lazy afternoon in the house and will make some visits later on – I’m thinking their must be some leftover clerico in this town!! Usually when it’s crazy hot out everyone goes down to the rio for Christmas Day, but since it rained this morning and it’s cloudy and a mere 90’ now, I wonder if folks are just hanging out at home. This evening I’ve invited Mary over for her very first time viewing the holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life!!
There are no presents here on Christmas – in Paraguay it’s the Three Kings who bring gifts, and that’s not til January 6. On that day the kids leave their shoes out front and the kings bring a single present for them. Adults don’t get anything, which is kinda sad if you ask me. So it turns out I had a lovely Christmas, not at all like holidays in the States, except for the food and family part. I was happy to be with friends, and continue to feel really at home here in Tacuati. It was hard to see Mary struggling with the language and with making conversation with people she doesn’t know, and I’m glad that I’m way past that phase and comfortable here (though I wish it hadn’t taken a full year and a half to get there!). I don’t have any photos from last night, choosing to spend my time as a part of the family and not as a tourist or photographer. Happy Holidays!!