Welcome to hell!

[AnqeiicDemise]

I miss my lovely Latin Christmases. Our pine trees are different and so are our traditions. Its nice.

I have white Christmases now and they're fun too but I miss the crazy fun of Guatemala. The fun would start on the 24th of December and carry on practically until the 26th.

I still remember the posadas, the bright confetti, the punch, the loud music, the pinatas and the over all crazyness that came with the season. It was fun. Since it was usually hot, family parties would turn to block parties and there would always be some type of barbecue/churrasco going on.

Kids would stay up late drinking atole and virgin punch until the adults would herd them back in doors at around eleven. We were to sleep but the excitement of what was to come never let us do so; my cousins and I would curl up on my mom's bed and sit near the window, ever-so-expectant to hear and see the fireworks that would come at midnight.

At midnight, the church bells would start ringing and at about the third ring the fireworks would start to pop. You could hear the sounds popping from all over the neighborhood -- next door, on our porch, across the street at the park, at the Cathedrals' plaza at the school.. everywhere. My cousins and I would fight to smash our faces against the windows to see the light up sky.

Of course, we'd just toss ourselves under the covers when we'd hear footsteps coming down the hall-- because if we got caught being up at midnight, the presents that Baby Jesus brought us would vanish because we were bad little kids.

....

Too bad we moved out of the country before I was old enough to visit the fairs that would open up again at midnight. See, since Guatemala is a highly Catholic country, there is such a thing as midnight mass;the kids would wake up, gather at the tree and pray with the family a rosary-- then we'd tear open the presents as quickly as we could so the family could document the fun. Then the kids would be herded back to bed and left with the oldest kid while everyone else went to mass and enjoy a bit of the midnight fairs. I did go to like one when I was like six; it was a bit of fun. I remember having bunuelos, fried plantain and atole before I went in for mass. I just couldn't stay awake and got cranky so mom decided not to bring me anymore until I was old enough to be a good girl.


-- The most we did last year was get out at midnight and have a snow fight. That was fun, but I miss the fireworks.

[NightWatch]

I'm jealous of latin/hispanic traditions. I was raised irish catholic, we had midnight mass, but there were no fairs to go with it. Also, all my family is on the other side of the country, so we had few get togethers.

[AnqeiicDemise]

I'm jealous of latin/hispanic traditions. I was raised irish catholic, we had midnight mass, but there were no fairs to go with it. Also, all my family is on the other side of the country, so we had few get togethers.

I was too little to pick up the huge religious overtones. I remember being dragged out to the fairs that would pop up before Christmas in full native costume to take pictures (its the in thing, I think). Like, I'd be sitting at a loom and be "working" on a corte (a skirt native women wear and it is usually hand woven in particular colors/patterns pertaining to their birth place) and the photographer would do add the Virgin of Guadalupe on top of the pattern I was working on during developing. Another famous pose was having the little girls sitting at a mill stone and have us ground up maza for tortillas. The virgin would then be developed above our heads.

Boys would usually be posed as in fishing or more famously, gathering roses because, as the legend goes, it was a young Mexican boy named Pedro (if I remember correctly) who was picking roses for the Virgin and had her image appear on his zarape.

I just loved going for the candy and music. Not the pictures because they were torture. There were a few games too but I can't remember them much. The pain of those sandals always overshadows the memories of the fairs leading up to Christmas.

[fireheart]

We do the tree and maybe the lights, but that's about it.

My family isn't overly religious-the most we do on Christmas as far as religious behaviour goes is say Grace at mealtimes. And that's ONLY on Christmas.

Thankfully the weather's gone down here quite a bit-it's a bit more sane as far as temperature goes (about 29C) although we're bracing ourselves for yet another heatwave.

[Seshat]

And as I have often pointed out to these same people, in Australia, Christmas is a summer holiday. Which makes me wonder what y'all think of all those "Christmas" songs that talk about winter and snow and all.

They're weird. And "The Little Match Girl" is too, and all the other Christmas-is-cold-and-snowy stuff.

But because of so much of that in our heritage, I think we have a greater inherent understanding of cultural and ecological difference than some cultures do. It's hard NOT to, when 95% of books, movies, TV shows, religious stories, religious songs, etc talk about cultures and ecosystems you've never encountered.

Christmas songs are just more of that.