A Letter from Alice Winters
Advent 2010
Dear friends,
Many have asked how we celebrate Christmas in Colombia. Let me share with you some of the ways:
Immaculate Conception, the beginning of the Christmas season
The first thing to realize about Christmas here is that it begins December 7. This is not Christmas, technically, but it formally opens the Christmas season. It is the celebration of the Immaculate Conception, the conception of the Virgin Mary held by the Catholic Church to be without sin, thus “immaculate.” In colder climates such as Bogotá (8,600 feet above sea level) candles are put in the windows of people’s homes, but here in Barranquilla (a few inches above sea level and warmly tropical) you put the velitas (“little candles”) on the walk in front of your house and they are covered with colorful windbreakers like Japanese lanterns. Windbreakers are a necessity because December is the start of the famous brisas (breezes, often very strong breezes) that come in off the Caribbean Sea and continue till March. On the night of the velitas people visit their neighbors, sitting around the front door with something cold to drink and then going on to the next house. It is a pleasant custom, and the velitas are so pretty that Protestant children have a hard time understanding why their families don’t have velitas like all their friends.
Decorations: The creche
By this time every house is decorated for the season (often starting in early November). The most important and traditional decoration is the pesebre or creche. You can buy a pesebre or build your own. Many families hand down the figures of the manger scene from generation to generation and prize them as families in the States prize the special ornaments they hang on the Christmas tree.
Decorations: The tree
Many homes here do have a Christmas tree or arbolito (“little tree”). Nowadays it is common to see artificial trees, some green, some another color. Barranquilla has a tropical climate so we have no evergreen trees. The artificial trees are a fairly recent development, however. When I came to Colombia, over 30 years ago, the arbolito was a tree branch without leaves, gathered out in the country. It was decorated with Christmas cards and colored lights like the ones you have on your tree at home. But Colombia is having a recession like the one in the States, so hardly anybody sends Christmas cards any more — if they do, it’s probably one of those electronic cards on the Internet, not easy to hang on an arbolito. So the arbolito is decorated mainly with lights. People who have lived in the States may have a few ornaments as well, but these are not common.
Decorations: Outdoor lighting
But lights are not found only on the tree. After all, relatively few people will see the tree. But all across the city colored lights decorate the outside of homes and businesses. Some are like outdoor decorations in the States, but for many people the idea is to have as many lights as possible. They outline the roof with lights, often with lights dangling down at regular intervals. They outline palm trees or the trunks of regular trees. You can buy figures of reindeer, Santa, snowmen (!) or just a big star outlined in lights. These outdoor lights are not usually colored; they are white or red or green (very occasionally blue).
Santa Claus, Papa Noel, the God Child
I’m not sure that all Colombians know that the little figure of a four-legged animal is a reindeer; it could be a pony or a big dog, judging by looks alone. Santa Claus is not part of the Christmas tradition in Colombia. He has been brought in quite recently by the stores here, but here he is known as Papa Noel. Much of the Santa Claus publicity (as is the case also with Halloween and the “Day of Love and Friendship” — Colombia’s version of Valentine’s Day) was first brought in by international chain stores and then adopted by more local enterprises. Do kids here know Santa travels by sleigh? Do they know what a reindeer is or what it has to do with Christmas? I doubt it.
Anyway, Papa Noel doesn’t bring any presents. The publicity usually shows him with a big bulky bag over his shoulder, but every kid here knows it is el Niño Dios (the God Child) who brings you presents. You write him a letter and tell him what you want and Christmas morning you hope to find it under your pillow or at the foot of your bed. This is the Catholic and secular concept. Protestant children know it isn’t the God Child; God was only a child for a few years, and baby Jesus was not a bringer of gifts — he was God’s gift to us. Who brings the presents then? Your family, especially Mamá and Papá, and maybe some friends. That’s if you are well off. Poor kids may get nothing more than an orange or a piece of hard candy, unless a radio or TV station, a charity or a church brings gifts for the family. All Presbyterian congregations here make up anchetas or gift baskets for needy families in the congregation and the surrounding neighborhood.
Seasonal activities
Lots of other things happen in December besides Christmas, many of which are more common in May or June in the States. The school year ends in November, and summer vacation for most Colombian children is December and January. December, then, is the time for graduation ceremonies in high schools and colleges — and graduation parties. (The university where I teach had its graduation ceremony last night and many of those who graduated had fiestas at home or in a restaurant afterwards.) Weddings often take place in December as well.
This is the time for “collective vacations.” Schools, many public institutions and even the courts shut down around December 15 and open up again a month later, so all employees take their vacation at the same time. Also traditional in Colombia is the prima or bonus paid every six months. Thus, if you work here you will probably be on vacation (unless you work in a store selling Christmas gifts right up to the last minute), you will have extra money in your pocket, and you will be able to travel. People come from all over to spend the holidays with their families, including those who live far away.
The novena
Another special activity in the days leading up to Christmas is the novena. This was originally a Catholic tradition: home worship services focusing on the meaning of Christmas for the nine days from December 16 to 24. For years Colombian Protestants wouldn’t do this because it was considered “too Catholic.” But now many Protestant churches, including Presbyterians, hold novenas. In our churches this is the time for Vacation Bible School, which ends with a program presented by the children for their families and friends on Christmas Eve, often a pageant about the Christmas story. One unforgettable Christmas in the country the kids used a real donkey for the flight to Egypt, going up the center aisle. But Herod got a little carried away and jumped off the platform and started beating all the kids sitting in the front pews!
In the apartment building where I used to live, the novena was hosted each evening by a different family. We would read and discuss a passage of Scripture and sing villancicos (Christmas carols) and then have light refreshments. Sometimes a whole block in a residential neighborhood will share in the novena. Different places have their novenas at different times, usually in the evening — even shopping centers and malls hold novenas (so you can attend and then continue your Christmas shopping). Kids learn the schedules and sometimes go from one novena to another to get in on all the refreshments.
December 24
Finally it is Christmas. You would call it Christmas Eve, but to Colombians the holiday is December 24. The 25th is a day to sleep in after all the activity of the previous evening, just like January 1. There used to be a tradition that you went to church at midnight because it was believed that Christ was born at that hour. I think Catholics still go to the midnight mass on Christmas Eve. I don’t know the origin of this tradition; there is nothing to that effect in the Bible. Our churches have the Christmas Eve service early so people can go home and spend the evening with the family. Remember, this is vacation time for adults and children, so it is usually the occasion of a big family reunion. You wear your best clothes, new if at all possible. The celebration starts with a big dinner at around 9:30 or 10:00 p.m. A traditional food here on the Caribbean coast is the pastel (chicken or turkey or pork surrounded by specially flavored rice or cornbread and wrapped in a big banana leaf). The presents are opened at midnight. Why? Many Protestants were raised Catholic as children, and midnight is still a special hour on Christmas Eve. Some might even say it’s because that’s when Christ was born. They never checked out this particular tradition after joining a Protestant church. Even if they know it’s not in the Bible, it is an old tradition, hard to break — and He could have been born at midnight, couldn’t He?
And after Christmas…
The holidays are only half over. Next, of course, we have New Year’s Eve. This time we do use the word “Eve.” Christmas is a quiet religious holiday for most folks, but New Year’s is wilder. Churches know that traffic is dangerous as the New Year comes in and is celebrated by many people with alcohol. Very little public transportation is available, so if our churches have a service on New Year’s Eve it is early, probably before dark, so people can get home before the streets become too problematic. Some churches have their New Year’s service on the 30th to avoid any problems.
There are some interesting New Year’s traditions: At Christmas you wore new clothes, but for New Year’s you wear new underwear too, and it really ought to be yellow. You eat 12 grapes at midnight (you should see the displays of grapes in the supermarkets!). If you hope to travel in the new year, you take a suitcase and run around the block. There used to be big displays of pólvora (fireworks) starting before Christmas and culminating on New Year’s. It sounded like a war zone. There are more controls now, but you do still get some backyard fireworks at New Year’s, especially right at midnight. Also bells, sirens, buzzers, etc.
And we’re not done…
We have one more holiday, the visit of the three kings. In many Latin American countries this is the time to exchange gifts, but not in Colombia. But this is a Monday holiday, so you get a long weekend. In fact, this is a holiday to rest or, if you’ve been visiting relatives, to head home so you can go back to work. With four holidays in five weeks, you can see why December is a good time for a vacation! And while the holidays are over (all but the bills), in Barranquilla we have Carnival coming up. (Tell you about that another time!)
Blessings on you…
Alice Winters
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 293
