So, here we've got my next door neighbor's pet pig hanging out in the back yard with the dog. In the next photo, we've got that same pig, but wrapped in a banana leaf and ready to be eaten.Neat, huh? It was about 6 or 7 months old when it was killed. They had timed it so that it would be ready for the daughter's graduation. The only tricky part about eating this thing was that for 3 months, I watched this thing eat garbage, literally, anything they threw it's way. If it's true that you are what you eat and the pig ate garbage, then I ate the pig, well, nevermind. It tasted ok, but I will definitely not get in the habit of raising pet pigs for food.
The graduation was nice though. There were only about 21 kids in the class, so I thought it would go quickly, but no. Lots of speeches, lots of praying, lots of singing, and of course, lots of cheezy American 80's music. It always seems to be a favorite. Example : MIDI version of "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M. Download it.
Oh yeah, so Thanksgiving. I went to Leon to visit the married couple. Since they actually acquired an oven, we had a better chance of being able to bake things. (duh)
Here's the final product of HOURS AND HOURS. We had pre-cooked and re-stuffed rotisserie chickens, green bean casserole, salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, and orange-squash wannabe pumpkin pie. Lara stuffed the chickens, I made the mashed potatoes with a mortar/pestle type set up, and Adam rolled the pie crust with a Nalgene water bottle (we thought about using a can of Raid but decided against it for obvious reasons), and we drank homemade pitaya (fruit) wine that the married couple had made a few weeks earlier. It tasted great, and no one got bacterial infections!
It was definitely nice to be with volunteers for this holiday. Even though it was a great meal, I think everybody appreciated each others company just as much, if not more than the food.
Moving right along, last night was a huge holiday! The "Purisima" is a week long celebration of the conception of the Virgin Mary celebrated by the Catholics (obviously). Here's a little description of it that I found on the internet.
During colonial times, the Spanish brought their religious catholic fervor to Nicaragua, which was embraced in an incredible way by the natives (obviously after being imposed), with a mystical character and intense piety. This is how the popular religious Nicaraguan festivities were born, and in December ‘La Purísima’ is celebrated, one of the most widespread celebrations.
Imagine ‘La Purísima’ like this: a richly decorated altar is placed in a corner of a family house, with a statue of the Virgin Mary‘s image. In front of this altar, a lot of chairs are arranged, that will be occupied by family members, friends, and neighbors invited by the house owners to celebrate its ‘Purísima’. Once all the guests arrive, the celebration starts with prayers to the virgin, but these are alternated with traditional songs. All the assistants accompany with whistles, tambourines and other instruments. While this takes place inside the house, outside some family members fire rockets and the so called ‘caraga cerrada’, (firecrackers) that contribute a lot to the boisterous celebration. Meanwhile the singings and prayers take place, the host distributes to his/her guests fruits, traditional sweets, caramels, traditional drinks, sugar-cane and many other gifts.
‘La Purísima’ is a celebration to the ‘purest conception of Virgin Mary’, taking place on December 8th, according to the catholic calendar. ‘La Purísima’ is a tradition celebrated in all parts of Nicaragua by thousands of Nicaraguan families. These celebrations take place at the end of November and during almost all of December.
Now...moving on to yesterday's celebration... THE GRITERIA!! (The "Shouting!")
Directly related to ‘La Purísima’, this other tradition, called ‘La Gritería, is more boisterous and more massive.
At 6PM every December 7th, a common yell is heard in different cathedrals and churches: Quién causa tanta alegría? (Who causes so much happiness?). This is how another ancient tradition starts along with the massive response ‘La Concepción de María’ (Mary’s Conception).
At that time, in cities and towns people start exploding fireworks and firecrackers. In the biggest cities, it gets so noisy that any uninformed tourist might think that a war has just started in Nicaragua. At midnight, firecrackers explode once again (the same happens at 6AM and 12PM, but on a smaller scale).
During ‘La Gritería’ Virgen Mary is also venerated. It is a celebration used by people to thank the virgin for miracles and it takes place before the official day. Faithful people decorate altars in their houses in a place were it can be seen from the street. In some neighborhoods you can find more than three altars in just one block.
Then, at 6PM sharp, thousands of Nicaraguans go to the streets to ‘shout’ to the virgin (the word gritería could be translated as ‘shouting’), which means visiting each altar and singing to the virgin Maria. This is basically how it is done: people hang around in groups, stop at an altar, intone traditional songs (the same as in ‘La Purísima’), house owners give fruits, candies, toys, instruments to make noise, natural drinks, and other type of gifts; finally, they move on to another altar. House owners who have placed altars wait until another group comes to sing. This is how ‘La Gritería’ is celebrated, lasting until the house owners have no more gifts to give away or until streets have no more singers.
Not only Catholics and religious people participate in this tradition. It is interesting to hear how people who do not know the songs’ lyrics make up the whole song or just sing the end of each phrase. This is a good opportunity for poor people to collect items, and it is interesting to see how people from different social classes participate in ‘La Gritería’
............that's the end of the official article I found. Very informative, huh? One thing's for sure, I can definitely vouch for the loudness factor. I thought that the gangs were at it again outside my house at midnight last night but it was just fireworks and roman candles and cherry bombs. There actually were fireworks at 6 pm, 12 am, and 6 am. It was deafening. Glad it's over. But, I did go out last night with a few friends and "shout" - or sing songs about the Virgin. It's like trick-or-treating. I got all kinds of stuff. I got a plastic plate, a bag of sugar, a stick of sugar cane, limes, cookies made of sesame seeds and cacao, candy, a rosary, a hair scrunchie, a Virgin Mary bracelet, fried banana chips, and who knows what else. And I didn't even have to dress up! Only one person went as far to ask me if I was Catholic (I'm pretty sure I was the only white person around)...but I sang the little song perfectly and I think for the most part people were impressed. QUIEN CAUSA TANTA ALEGRIA!!! LA CONCEPCION DE LA VIRGEN MARIA!!!
Phew, OK. Well, I'm officially on vacation now that school is out, so a couple of English teachers and I are getting together this week to draft a letter asking for money to make materials to use in the classroom. Simple stuff, like scissors, construction paper, laminate, markers, glue, paint, etc. First we're going to write to a really big sugar mill here that has an equally big human resources department. If that doesn't work, it'll be time to hit the mayor's office. Eek. Gotta try to stay a little bit busy though.
Love,
Elizabeth
p.s. thanks to the people from the website where i stole the article and pictures about la purisima. please don't sue me.
