christmas in Honduras

As I write this I am compulsively checking the Delta Airlines website to make sure the flight is on time from Atlanta...I know that I wrote about patience the other day, but this morning might just be the longest morning of my life!! I am praying all goes well and that my parents and sister will be arriving safely at 1 pm right here in Tegucigalpa. My Honduran family seems adequately excited too (though we know communication will be a challenge!). Since I will be taking a week "off" to spend time with the family, I thought I'd post some reflections on Christmas here in my home in Honduras.

The 24th of December is the big holiday here...this meant we all slept in and were in our pajamas til about 2 or 3 pm. Trademarks of Honduran Christmas include tamales, torrejas, lots of fireworks (cohetes) and church. Here are some thoughts on each of those:
1. Tamales: major process to make a batch of tamales. You have to make enough for your family plus the relatives, plus enough to eat on both holidays, the 24 & 31. It takes most of the day, and a couple hours to cook over the fire. Since I was still working hard on the 23, I missed most of the process, but got to enjoy the "bonfire" out on our patio. It was a nice evening outside and I was having fun looking at the stars with my nephew (who has adorable, endearing moments every now and then).
I should also mention I do not love tamales, but its tradition to eat 10 or 12 during the holidays...somehow, I have made it this far only eating 1! The family is a little worried that I hate them b/c I dont eat them enough, but they keep giving me other options, so I choose to not eat tamales :)

2. Torrejas are another food related tradition, more delicious to me than tamales. Basically, you make french toast, using fluffy egg whites instead of the whole egg...than you cook a stack of bread in a delicious sweet syrup and enjoy it hot or cold. I ate this most of the evening (while avoiding tamales).

3. Fireworks are a HUGE tradition on the 24. I mean, we've been 'enjoying' them for the past month or so, always right outside the house, at all hours of the day and night...but on this night children of all ages are allowed in the street past midnight (this is really rare in our neighborhood) and they are allowed to use everything from sparklers and poppers to what I would call mortars and newspaper bombs...yeah, it gets a little crazy. around 12, one went off very close to our spectator spot and I thought I was losing my hearing...but it came back :)
They tell me it is nothing compared to the 31st....can't wait for that!

4. Church--of course, we knew all day long we had church at 6pm, but for some reason my host mom did not stop cooking food and start getting ready til 6:05...then my brother starts eating a tamale at 6:20... somehow, we made it to church by 6:35 and only missed some singing. There was lots of upbeat music, a rowdy drama, more focused on the arrest, death and resurrection of Christ than his birth (which was weird for me) and plenty of clapping and singing. It was very different from the quiet, more somber, candlelit Christmas eve services I know and love...but I guess adjusting to new cultural traditions is what this whole thing is about!

For me, this was the point in the day where I missed home the most, and was most strongly reminded that it was Christmas, and I was not with my family. But, it was a good experience in learning how others celebrate, and that the iconic things we hold as being quintessentially "Christmas" really don't matter all that much. Pretty much, it all comes down to sharing time with people you love. oh and food. I think those are the 2 common denominators world-wide :)

The other tradition I participated in is staying up really late...I mean, for me it was 2:30am, but some in my family made it til 5am...I'm usually the first in bed at 10:30 or 11, so I felt like I made a good effort.

Christmas Day was pretty quiet and relaxing. I was able to call my family to wish them a Merry Christmas (well, almost all of them :) and then enjoyed Christmas dinner with some other friends from the US, England and Denmark. What a fun way to enjoy the holiday.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas holiday, blog reader, and that you enjoy a festive New Year celebration. I will be enjoying some vacation time with my family and will fill you in on the craziness of the 31st next week.
happy merry Christmas holidays!