Guatemala

media type="file" key="lea voices of culture.mp3"Guatemala My trip to Guatemala By: Lea Mixon As I’m on my way to the airport enjoying all this beautiful sun shine, sadly today was my last day in Guatemala City. I have been here for the last 6 months with my family. My mom sent me here to learn more things about my culture (on my mom’s side). For my last day they gave me a small fiesta de despedida (going away party). As food we prepared volteados (refried beans) frijoies (black beans) arroz (rice) el pollo (chicken) de carne (beef) de Pavo (turkey), tortillas, and roast compoyo, everything was homemade. It was one of the smallest fiestas I’ve attended since being here but I was still very thankful. We danced, ate food, and played music such as the marimba (the national instrument) kind of like a xylophone. I must say how ever the most exciting celebration my family and I have attended were the celebrations of Christmas. This is known to be one of the biggest holidays. The streets were filled with various type of music (dumbs marimba, guitar,etc.) and dance. People were decorating their houses with various types of yellow fruits which I found different because my family in San Francisco usually decorates their house with green, white, and red, but the yellow is a tradition in Guatemala. My family is catholic so this holiday season it means a lot to them. This celebration starts on December 7th With“La Qunema del Diablo.” (The burning of the devil). At 6 p.m. exactly we made a bonfire outside our house and tossed the “devil,” (built like a piñata and filled with firecrackers inside of it). The “devil” stands for all the sins people had done during the year. On December 8th we had a big feast (La Inmaculada) this is considered to be holy, we watched firecrackers and attended mass, we did this ritual again on December 12th. The night before Christmas (Noche Buena) as my family calls it we got all dressed up in our festive colors and we eat tamales (with meat corn and cheese in them) give out some gifts and drink ponche (punch). The morning of Christmas instead of getting up and opening our gifts we go to mass with our whole community. I’ve never been to mass well for except the time I went on the 8th my mom doesn’t go to mass because is no longer catholic her and my dad are christen. Going to mass here, you don’t have any option you have to go rather you like or not. This year our whole community went to the same church instead of going to different ones. When we got there we set down and listened to the priest, a lot of people stated to crying. I’m guessing they were crying from joy but I didn’t really get it because it should be a happy time and it seemed like someone had just died but we were supposed to be celebrating Jesus birth. When mass is over we go back home and open gifts and eat some of our left over from the night before. Their Christmas over all is way longer and festive then in America well at least in California with my other side of my family. I have learned a lot of thing since I’ve been here and I’m happy my mom sent me here. When I get back home I’m going to try to convince my mom to come back next year for Christmas so we can all be together and they can meet my little brother that is soon to come. Grief, Relief, and Strength audio: media type="file" key="Guatemala.m4a" width="300" height="50" text: media type="file" key="Audio.m4a" width="300" height="50" <<<Text
 * Nicole Cochary**
 * Camille Morgan**
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