The Christmas Season
ByOver at AntiguaDailyPhoto, Rudy asks when Christmas in Antigua ends. This question came about because last Sunday the lights in Antigua’s park were put up and there was a big celebration. I haven’t seen them at night yet but I hear they’re fabulous.
This really disappointed me as a amateur hack historian and a traditionalist of sorts since it wasn’t until the mid-2oth century that the ‘Christmas season’ was turned over to the materialists who kick off the ’season’ on the day after Thanksgiving. Perhaps I was naive in thinking that by coming to a country still largely stuck in the 19th century that they might stick to the earlier traditions, viz., kicking off the Christmas season when it begins with Vigil Mass after dark on Dec 24th and shutting things down on Jan 6, which is Epiphany.
Traditionally Christians would observe Advent, a penitential period somewhat comparable to Lent in the way that it precedes a great feast, and not celebrate until the arrival of the feast. Friends tell me that a bunch of Jews got together in Zurich or something and changed all this in order to prop up sagging retail sales. Those three Jewish elders sure do stay busy!
Anyway, one reader on Rudy’s site actually got this correct (kudos to Catherine from Oregon), but Rudy corrected her and says that in Antigua, at least, Christmas begins in November and ends in February.
What’s the point? Well, dear readers, the skies were clear, the temperature was perfect, the Maid, Cook and Spanish teacher all showed up on time, and I couldn’t find anything else to complain about; not wanting to let any readers down who are desperate to maintain their perceptions of me, this was all I could come up with for the day.
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4 Comments
December 4th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Be sure to join one of the posadas. They start around the 15th of December and are an excellent way for Catholics to prepare for Christmas Eve, while enjoying some celebrating with your friends and neighbors. Lots of firecrackers everywhere, so don`t be surprised if your kids start asking you for firecracker money too (and try to convince you that the cigarrete is only used for lighting the firecrackers).
And you definitely want to visit the Nacimientos. Saint Francis of Assisi never dreamt of the variety of landscapes and animals you can fit into them!
December 4th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
We're already hearing processions on a nightly basis here in San Juan, even though the posadas haven't started. Firecrackers are BIG here, too. You can really impress the neighbors if you buy a giant box of real fireworks (not the crackers or silbadores) and set them off in the park some night.
December 4th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
The Christmas celebrations in Antigua are purely commercial. The Christmas season in traditional Guatemalan homes begins with the Quema del Diablo on December 7 and ends January 6. The posadas begin 9 days before Christmas, each day representing a month of pregnancy. If you're putting up a nacimiento, it was(is) traditional to keep the baby out of view until midnight of the 24th. You sit the baby up on January 1 and dress him up. I find it really interesting that the baby Jesus is usually dressed in a really ornate girl's gown. I have seen pictures from the renaissance that show the male children of the nobility dressed like girls. I once offered my grandmother to have a tiny suit made for her baby Jesus but she refused.
December 5th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
I have been warned to watch carefully the baby in the manger as Guatemalans like to steal him…there is some custom re the person stealing him is to return him with an invitation to host a party…..am sure the GUatemalans can flesh out this tradition online for you….I thought it odd when I first heard it.
So the clothes on Jan 6 represent what?I have had elderly Guatemalan friends who have had wardrobes of clothes, lovely things for their saints in their nichos…a bit like 85 year olds playing with their dolls…charming really.
I was also told a story (not sure if true) that some of the saints that had been outside the cathdral had been damaged by quakes and some of the little ladies of ANtigua had one or more in their homes for "safekeeping". The story goes the priest knew who had them and convinced them to return them when the cathdral was being restored…whether true or not another nice story.
And have you heard the ghost stories about the ghosts of nuns who walk the tunnels under La Merced headed off to the conventos? I WAS able to confirm that there ARE tunnels from a retired city administrator I knew socially. Hmmmm……