¡La Conception de Maria! Or so I´m told. Last Monday was the Catholic holiday La Purisima, a strange cross between caroling and trick or treating. The holiday celebrates the Virgin Mary´s immaculate conception and starts off with the setting off of fireworks at noon, which makes it sound as if a war is going off outside. Later in the evening starts la gritura. This when you go traveling from house to house where people have set up an altar to the Virgin and you begin to sing songs to her (there are several songs dedicated to her). I sang ¨Por Eso el Cristianismo¨ so many times I actually memorized it. The cool part of the whole thing though is that once you´re done singing people give you free stuff. Of course, like Halloween, you get a lot of candy, but that was actually the least of what I got. I also got a nacatamal, a chicken sandwhich, 3 cups (2 plastic, 1 glass), dry beans, 2 bags of sugar, a bucket, a basket, soap, detergent, a razor. By the end of the night I had a huge bag just full of stuff weighing me down.
After the holidays I had a visit from one of my fellow volunteers who came to try the quesillos, a dish my town is known for. Its a stretchy cheese, on a tortilla with crema and onions. Super tasty. It was nice having contact with someone a friend as lately I´ve been kind of bored. We walked around town and saw the sights including the oldest genizaro tree in Nicaragua (its this huge amazing tree thats centuries old) and the mirador that you can climb up and get a great view of the whole town and of the nearby volcanoe. The next day I also accompanied her to the city of Leon, which is a pretty cool place.
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OMG Chris, I'm so happy you got to participate en la griteria! I went a couple of years ago and it was amazing. It gets better for Christmas and New Years (especially New Years). I kinda envy you because from my experience New Years is even more exciting than celebrating it in the states. Make sure you go out to the streets and celebrate with all the people but beware of the cohetes (fireworks). One year my brother almost got burned because of el toro encuetado, which is basically this guy prancing around the streets with this bull framework on his back that shoots out fireworks. Then there are the people who blow up an old man made of straw (which represents the death of the old year) and then there are the kids who dress up as la gigantona, pepe cabezon, and this other short guy. They basically just sing and dance all around the streets. I really wish I could be there with you to celebrate. I'm glad you're experiencing something new. Miss you always.
ResponderEliminar<3 Christy