Cultural Norms and Expectations- Part 1

We came to Peru with more than an average understanding of cultural norms, but we certainly aren't experts about this culture by any stretch.  This past Saturday, we had an opportunity to participate in two events about which we knew very little but which had CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS for us.  And, of course, they were both on the same day at the same time, which created a bigger dilemma for us. 

One was the first communion of our empleada's son(Alex) and the second was a family fiesta for M's school.

Flor supports her son by herself, and one of the things that is really important to her is education.  She sacrifices a lot to put Alex in a private school. 

 

Cultural side note- there are three main types of schools here, below is an oversimplified summary:

• Public (free but under resourced and not a great launching pad)
• Private and affordable, more or less (this is what M and Alex are in- some are run by churches and some are just private without a religious affiliation, the parents pay tuition, and these are stronger)
• Private and uber-expensive private schools (favored by wealthy people, expats that want their kids to go to college somewhere else and/or whose children will be in school in Peru for the long run)  

Culturally, most of Latin America has a strong Catholic leaning. Alex's school is Catholic, and even though he and his mom attend a Protestant church, he participated in the First Communion along with his classmates.  31 kids took their first communion this past Saturday and we attended.  First Communion is a BIG DEAL here, and unfortunately it was at exactly the same time as M's school party which is an annual event.  We gave her the choice of us having someone else take her to the party for the whole day or coming to see Alex's service and then all of us heading to the party afterward.  She chose the latter because "the party will happen again next year, but Alex only has this once in his whole life."   

 

The service was about 90 minutes long, with the kids proceeding in, singing some songs, having a liturgical call/response, and then the communion.  The church was packed, everyone wore white robes, and after the service we all went to a large courtyard and waited about 30 minutes while the kids got a mini-reception of their own.  Then everyone could go in and take pictures of the kids. 

 

The processional

Alex and his fancy cake

Group picture afterward with some family

 

 

Some of the interesting highlights:

• Professional photographers took pics of the kids as they came in, when they recessed out, and of each kid with their cake.  Then they quickly printed them and had armfuls, which they sold for $2-4 each, just like when you go to an amusement park and they try to get you to buy the pictures they take when you enter the park or go on a roller coaster.  I think there were at least 3-5 photographers so you had a lot of opportunities to pick which picture(s) you liked.
• The kids hand out recuerdos, or remembrances of the event.  Most kids give a card that has their name, the date, parents' names, etc., but some have more elaborate (and expensive) trinkets like a key chain or a small plastic figurine made in China.  I will confess, this didn't really make much sense to me at all, as every kid gave a recuerdo to everyone else and I don't expect that someone would have much use for 15 figurines.  But I might be missing something.  I do recall that when I graduated from high school, I pressed my mom into buying those little name cards which were SO IMPORTANT to hand out with my senior pictures and I still have tons of them in my memory box because they really weren't that important at all.  :)
• The kids all wore white robes with capelets and a sash.  They also had a little bag to carry their recuerdos, but in actuality the parents carried around boxes or bags and handed them out to everyone.  I guess 10 year olds are 10 year olds in every country.

We were honored to be invited to the event and hope we didn't inadvertently mess up some cultural expectation.  In part 2 I will talk about M's school party.