Tonight is Nochebuena (Christmas Eve). Several of our (Gringo) neighbors have left for points Norte visiting family, and the others that are here are off at parties tonight. This evening is huge in Mexico. There is tradition related to the Holiday that says that in order to ward off evil spirits for the coming year you must stay up until sunrise - if you sleep you risk being taken. I don't think it is related to the Catholic Church... Much of what is done during what we call the Christmas season is a mish-mash here of various traditions that incorporate Catholicism and practices that date back to Mayan customs. But, enough about that - we have been invited to come to the Mexican Posada here on the grounds of Rancho el Rosario! For years I have read about how generous the Mexicans are in sharing their celebrations with Gringos. One of the problems with this is that everything they do starts way later than our parties do. I think that comida (dinner) is at 9pm - we finished eating at 7:30 - so we can't really show up to party until an hour later. That's our bedtime normally, but if it's gonna get loud at that point, we might as well join them, right? I am determined to make a brief showing and hopefully get some photos. We have commitments tomorrow so we can't overdo tonight...
This photo is of a tree decorated with dried citrus slices in a restaurant lobby - fabulous! And the two other photos, above and below, are of our neighbors' decorations. I have to covet theirs as I have none this year. As I'm finishing this post up it is Christmas day and we did go to the posada last night and drank a few shots of Tequila. They had a big bonfire which is always part of the party on Nochebuena. Unfortunately, it made it too hard to get decent photos with the bonfire overpowering any chance of getting detail of the peoples' faces, etc. We were generously introduced to the extended family that was there including one young man who is studying to be a veterinarian in Guadalajara. He was a younger brother of one of the staff - very proud to let us know he has only one year of study left! The party was quite low key, as there were a bunch of little kids there. Today was spent at a wonderful brunch for several hours and followed by a long Skype conversation with our kids and their partners back home.
Tonight is Nochebuena (Christmas Eve). Several of our (Gringo) neighbors have left for points Norte visiting family, and the others that are here are off at parties tonight. This evening is huge in Mexico. There is tradition related to the Holiday that says that in order to ward off evil spirits for the coming year you must stay up until sunrise - if you sleep you risk being taken. I don't think it is related to the Catholic Church... Much of what is done during what we call the Christmas season is a mish-mash here of various traditions that incorporate Catholicism and practices that date back to Mayan customs. But, enough about that - we have been invited to come to the Mexican Posada here on the grounds of Rancho el Rosario! For years I have read about how generous the Mexicans are in sharing their celebrations with Gringos. One of the problems with this is that everything they do starts way later than our parties do. I think that comida (dinner) is at 9pm - we finished eating at 7:30 - so we can't really show up to party until an hour later. That's our bedtime normally, but if it's gonna get loud at that point, we might as well join them, right? I am determined to make a brief showing and hopefully get some photos. We have commitments tomorrow so we can't overdo tonight...
No comments:
Post a Comment