This Christmas was one for the books! While I couldn’t participate in some of my favorite Christmas and winter traditions like listening to Christmas carols before Christmas Eve mass and going ice skating on a perfectly smooth pond, I did get to experience some new Christmas events “Honduran style”.
One Latin American tradition leading up to Christmas is called Posadas. For nine days preceding Christmas Eve our entire Finca community participated in finding a place for Mary and Joseph to spend the night. Everyone does it a little differently, but ours included two kids carrying statues of Mary and Joseph to a different house every evening. During the procession we sang songs to familiar tunes like “Little Drummer Boy”. When we reached our house for the evening we sang a song that goes back and forth between the “Innkeepers” inside the house and the “Travelers” outside. At the end of the song everyone is welcomed into the home and a prayer is said, and activity is done, and we eat a merienda or snack.
Due to some positive covid cases on site, we were quarantined for a while. Now that spiritual events have started back up again it’s so fun to see the kids in action. I just have to laugh when a 10-year-old boy is banging a turtle shell off beat during every song, when a battle goes off between a 4-year-old girl and a religious sister, and when the Finca’s pet cat, Micho, comes crawling out from under an alter (he was strategically placed their by the boys beforehand).
Throughout Honduras, and possibly all of Central America, the big celebration happens on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day. On the 23rd us missionaries spent the evening in the clothing bodega (storage room) putting together gifts for all the kids, tias, watchis, and maintenance workers. Late into the night, we crept around to each of the houses placing their new Christmas Eve outfits underneath the tree. Even though it was approaching midnight, we could still hear rustling from inside some of the houses and had to tiptoe through the dirt barefoot so as not to make any extra noise.
The boys’ hair here at the Finca was starting to look like my brother’s (aka too long) and a military personal from the Honduran military base was going to come over to give them haircuts. Living in Honduras I have come to realize that there’s not much to expect except the unexpected. What was meant to be one barber coming turned into 20 soldiers with supplies for a full on party. The kids were called upon and the missionaries arrived at the library to find a party complete with balloons, sandwiches, cake, and music. The kids had a fun time, I ate a ham and cheese sandwich (my first in 4 months), and all the kids, both girls and boys, got haircuts. Now the boys are looking spiffy with their buzz cuts. The best party about the party was when the soldiers handed out to go containers of red apples and grapes to everybody. It was a great Christmas present to receive!
After the party the missionaries were busy preparing for the Finca Christmas Eve party that night. The middle school building was converted into party central. Educational posters were taken down and balloons were put up. Benches were carried over and tables were set up, and Santa’s costume was laid out for the highlight of the night-- gift giving! At 4 o’clock the celebration began with mass. The Nativity scene that Sister Magda and the house 5 girls had been diligently working on all week long was revealed. After mass the party moved to the school where a big feast of rice, pork, salad, and tortillas were served. Then the missionaries performed a Christmas dance and the three youngest girls performed a ballet; tutus and all. Games were played, music was blasted, and the dance floor was hopping all night long. The Finca tradition is to light off fireworks at midnight. After a prayer service at 11:30pm in the church, we made our way to the soccer field with armfuls of fireworks. The kids lit sparklers and threw “volcano” fireworks that erupted upon landing. We launched a dozen “rockets” into the air that exploded with a loud bang and 45 minutes later we called it a night saying “Feliz Navidad” one last time.
Because all of the festivities happen on Christmas Eve, Christmas day is a relaxed day for the missionaries to share gifts, call home, and take recovery naps. We had a Christmas morning brunch consisting of homemade cinnamon rolls, bacon, scrambled eggs, and orange juice. Afterwards we shared our Secret Santa gifts with each other. The game plan was to spend the afternoon on the beach and go for a Christmas swim, but the weather was uncooperative. It rained pretty much all day and night the storm has continued into today (at least we are getting some form of precipitation.. right?!) Along with the rain came a power outage and our movie night transferred from viewing with a projector to watching on a laptop until that died.
Overall it was a very, merry Christmas. Calling home and seeing family open presents was fun. Watching videos they made for me was a highlight. And revealing all of the Secret Santa shenanigans that took place over the last week was hilarious. I hope you and your families had a very wonderful day too!