Fiestas Patrias (or, Peru's Independence Days)

According to wikipedia (which may or may not be a completely reliable source but is so convenient for things like this), Fiestas Patrias is one of the biggest holidays in Peru.  It is certainly something that stands out for us.

The holiday celebrates Peru's independence from Spain (a nice article here) and covers two days (July 28 and 29).  Both of them are official holidays.

The main square (and everywhere, really) are decked out with flags and cockades.

Here are some of the things we've observed about how the holiday is celebrated:

• For all of July, there have been multiple vendors selling all number of patriotic accouterments.  People wear little ribbon cockades (of real ribbon or metal ones) the whole month.  Miss M got one as a present from her teacher at the beginning of July and was to wear it all month.  There are also lots and lots of paper decorations, flags flying from cars and motorcycles and combis decked out.  Because it doesn't rain here, combis can actually put paper decorations on their car without worry that they will be ruined (though they probably get pretty dusty).

You can see the cockade up in this clothing shop (and Dave is tormenting the little manikin girl by not giving her any ice cream).

Just a little of the patriotic swag available for purchase.

Some of the metal cockades.  I think the ribbon ones are even more common.

• It's the law that you have to fly a Peruvian flag on the holiday itself.  We got ours up early to be sure that we didn't get fined (which is the punishment for not flying the flag...not sure how much you have to pay but we bought a flag from the people moving out so we would be prepared).  The people who moved out of this house left just before the Fiestas Patrias and we came in mid-August so one of the things they had to do was make sure the landlords came to put up and take down the flag to avoid anyone being fined. 

  

  All the flags are flying on this pedestrian shopping street.

• Winter break (2-3 weeks, depending on the school) coincides with the holiday.  Most schools have off the end of July into early August.   
• Parades and demonstrations (usually with a military and/or police emphasis).  They have lots of marching and flags and pageantry.  We tried to see something like this by wandering downtown but no official demonstrations or parades were happening.  
  
  
  
  

  

  No parades, but we had a fun holiday excursion downtown.  I'm wearing my Peru shirt and necklace and a ribbon cockade (obscured by my hair) and the girls each have a metal cockade pin.

• Schools have programs.  The kids dress up in costumes and honor the history of Peru.  Miss M was assigned a costume as a mountain police officer.  But we weren't able to get a picture of her in the costume as she wasn't that excited about it.  Khaki colored shirt, green polyester pants, felted cowboy style hat and a gun holster (sans gun, other kids' uniforms had guns and she was quite disappointed about her costume).  We were told that parents were not supposed to attend the program, that it was for kids only, so we didn't get any pictures.  I know that they sang the Peruvian national anthem (which they do daily, M has it memorized), did some marching (she demonstrated some nice goosestepping) and did some kind of program. 

No pictures of Miss M's costume, but here are some ladies in the costume rental shop section of town.

Thus far, we haven't heard fireworks, which I would have said is the (un)official way that all holidays are celebrated.  Maybe we'll hear them tonight, the second day of the festival!  **Update** No fireworks at all.  Christmas, on the other hand, had so many fireworks we couldn't sleep, as did New Year's.

Feliz dias, Peru!

July 4th- the Holiday that (Almost) Isn't

We didn't come to Peru with any illusions that the United States' independence day would be a celebratory event.  We are only in Peru for one 4th of July and so it's not a big deal to miss it.  (Besides, the Peruvian independence day celebrations are the end of this month, so it's kind of like we'll still get an independence day celebration a few weeks late.)

There is an expat community here, but we didn't have any specific plans and there wasn't a general 4th of July party to attend.  We thought about trying to have something, but we had a big garage sale on July 5th, so that put the concept of running two large events back to back as something that should not be attempted.
I made star shaped sugar cookies and picked out the red, white and blue stars from a set of sprinkles.  Coupled with red and blue frosting (I forgot to keep any of the frosting white....oops) we had a child friendly patriotic hands-on event.

Our patriotic cookie activity

We never said we were professionals but they slipped down quite easily

Our pictures are not high quality this time around-
there was more happiness than depicted here.

Miss Sugar-kins had happy faces the whole time.

I managed to cobble together a patriotic ensemble for Little A (who promptly destroyed the pants with a diaper explosion after refusing to get her picture taken).  I thought about and decided against bringing any clearly US themed clothing with us (reasoning that we were in another country and it wasn't necessary to advertise from whence we came, and I couldn't justify the space for something we might wear once or twice).

The best picture I got before the diaper incident.
Red and white striped shirt and jeans with stars.

What I wasn't expecting is that people at M's school would not only know it was our independence day but do something to celebrate it!  M's teachers gave her gifts (a paper US flag from her English teacher and a bookmark and purse from her classroom teacher).  Another mom who is a Peruvian married to an American gave her a cupcake with a US flag stuck in the top.  And many people wished me happy independence day when Little A and I went to pick up Miss M.  Unexpectedly nice.

Miss M's muffin that was given by another mom at school

We missed the fireworks display, fun events in the park, and especially grilled food (we don't have a grill here and it's basically impossible to buy a good burger from restaurants here) but we look forward to celebrating next year shortly after our return.  Both girls will probably even be old enough to stay up for and enjoy the fireworks display!

Holiday Series: Father's Day in Peru

Father's Day in Peru is not quite the extravaganza that is Mother's Day here, but they don't ignore the dads by any stretch.  We spent a chunk of time at Miss M's school yesterday for Día del Padre or Día del Papá.

Dad and the girls.

Similarities to the Mother's Day program:

• Big extravaganza
• Included all kids from the school and the whole family
• Lots of food available for purchase
• Loads of decorations
• Hundreds of attendees

Differences from Mother's Day:

• Held on a Saturday instead of during the week (and M has school off on Monday to compensate)
• Longer than the Mother's Day event- 5 hours instead of 3
• The dads participated in a number of sporting contests; moms just watched a program
• Kids were organized by house (there are four houses; M is in the Cocodrilos)
• Emphasis was on sporting contests.  The four houses each prepared a skit and/or dance and seemed to perform it for judges.  Families could earn participation points for each house by coming dressed in the house color.  (Fortunately M's color is green; we would have been up a creek without a paddle if she was a lion as they wear yellow.)  

They handed out balloons, maracas, crocodile signs,
and more for the green cocodrilos.

The start of the cocodrilos skit.  It was all about
coming together in friendship for all four houses.

The cocodrilo girls dance.

Dave and another dad held up crocodile signs, balloons, and a banner/flag.

Dave's team won their tug-of-war contest.

A happy popcorn consumer.  Her shirt has light green stripes
plus green pants (and a green diaper!)

Another of the sports contests.  Half dribbled a soccer ball in and
out of cones, then the other half jumped back in a sack.

Dave anchored his team to victory!

The yellow team won the overall point total.  Here is the representative "king."

Some of the food we bought.  Chocro is the boiled corn and a slab of salted cheese.
The other is a tamal (like a tamale but no e)  wrapped in a palm leaf.

Another fancy bulletin board.

M's father's day gift.  Te amo papito (I love you daddy.)

The Holiday Series

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Advent

Christmas

New Years

Easter

Mother's Day

Father's Day (that's this one)

Holiday Series: Mother's Day (Felíz Día de la Madre)

Mother's Day in Peru is a big deal.  A BIG DEAL.  Not that it isn't a big holiday in the states, but you've got nothing on Peru. There is the "normal" stuff like fliers showcasing gifts you should get mom (my personal favorite was the meat store flier that suggested hotdogs were just what mom's been hoping to receive).  This mom wasn't so much on board with that idea, but fortunately no one else in the family thinks I would ever want that.  And I recycled the flier right away.  Beyond that, I present the following norms:

• Programs at children's schools for mother's day.  These programs are several hours long, involve costumes for the children, pins for the moms, drawings for baskets (mostly food) and other prizes, special food, crafts given to moms that appear to be made by teachers, not children (at least for the younger ages) and more. 
• Restaurants have specials for moms (a free meal, appetizer, dessert or drink) if you go out to eat on Mother's Day or maybe on Saturday, too.
• Lots of signs and specials at restaurants and other stores.
• The week after Mother's Day, all the kids are off for fall break.  (This isn't at every single school, but quite a lot of them, including Miss M's school and those of her friends.)

Moms walked in to a shower of rose petals.

The pin they gave to all moms.

Baskets to win (2-3 names drawn per class; I didn't win)

Theme was "The Best Mom in the World" and this is a class
with all of the highlighted countries represented in costume.

Miss M's class (Mexico)

 Here is video of Miss M with her big Spanish debut.  She did a great job of talking right into the microphone, even persevering through technical difficulties when the mic didn't work at first.  So proud.

Picture with my Mexican dancer and bug bitten little one

A photo booth opportunity (missing M who went back to school,
a block or two away from the program venue)

In my own family, Dave was kind enough to create a Mother's Day week, with something special in the days before and including Mother's Day.  He had time for me to go out by myself and do some errands, special food, a special breakfast on Mother's Day with handmade cards from the girls and chocolate, and I got to pick the restaurant for our weekly date lunch and our Family Friday.  And on Mother's Day, I got to do whatever I wanted, which ended up being a deep conditioning treatment for my hair.  I know, I live on the edge.  But it's the kind of thing I'm supposed to do regularly but almost never do, so it was actually a treat.

Homemade cards, flowers, a fruit and cheese plate,
chocolate and a special homemade breakfast.

My only concern is how I'm going to even come close to matching this for Father's Day (although I've learned that there isn't nearly the same reverence for fathers here, almost none of the hoopla that exists for Mother's Day.)  More to come in a future post when we've experienced a Father's Day here.

The Holiday Series

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Advent

Christmas

New Years

Easter

Mother's Day (that's this one)

Holiday Series: Easter

Easter here in Peru is very focused on the passion of Jesus (death and the steps leading up to it) and not quite so much on the Resurrection piece.  Candy, Easter eggs, and the Easter Bunny are almost unheard of (though a few eggs are creeping in here and there...it's a very new phenomenon).  I've mentioned in past posts (like the Christmas one) how there isn't the same separation of Church and State that we have in the USA.

In fact, the government sponsors several public religious displays.  The police station sponsored a mechanized show using Barbie style dolls in costume and sets for Christmas and this year was their first year to do the same for the passion.  And the city of Arequipa sponsored a live actor passion play on Maundy Thursday (the Thursday before Easter) that we happened upon.  Next year we'll know to look out for it.

I was impressed with the costuming, there were at least 50+ actors.

They didn't shy away from uncomfortable scenes.  This is the whipping
by Roman soldiers, two soldiers had whips (cotton rope) and they did the whole 40 lashes.

The crucifixion.  This was the end of the passion play.

This is the mechanized passion play at the police station.
They had 15 stations, I think.  2014 was the inaugural year.

They had amazing detail for Barbie type dolls.
Jesus carried the cross, ascended, Roman soldiers pounded nails, and more.

Each station had a light on it and narration/music for that scene.

It's interesting, in going around Arequipa there are a lot of shrines in places that you wouldn't expect.  For example, the post office, a public park, the vegetable/meat/fruit market.  I have only ever seen shrines to Mary and Jesus.  Most often, Jesus is in some state of torture, like with a crown of thorns carrying his cross or bloody and on the cross.  We aren't Catholic or Orthodox so I didn't grow up with a lot of iconography in church.  I do know from talking with others who are from faith traditions with icons that at least some of this is to help remind people of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.  My own faith tradition tends to more heavily emphasize the resurrection and part of that would be hanging an empty cross (if a cross is used at all). So it has been interesting to be in place where this type of religious iconography is not only present in churches but literally everywhere.

On Easter Sunday, we went to church at a Baptist church a couple of blocks down the street.  They had someone dressed in a robe who I believe was Peter at the empty tomb (constructed of paper on a 2x4 frame).  But it's very difficult to understand what is happening when you don't fully comprehend the language (fortunately, we had a pretty good pulse on the story they were telling).  Outside of the mini-play, the rest of the service was much like usual, about 40 minutes of singing and then a sermon.  I don't know what the Catholic service tradition is here, but I was told by others that have lived here that the big event is really more about Good Friday and Jesus' death than a big service/tradition on Easter itself.  (Anyone who is Catholic in the States who cares to chime in about your traditional Easter service?)

I love the Lutheran tradition of brass playing and church choirs and I look forward to experiencing that again when we return, but I did enjoy seeing the various passion plays here.

We invited some people over to our house for Easter afternoon.  Dave fixed up a yummy meal of lamb, potatoes, and veggies and we had some bread, chicha (the purple corn drink, kind of like Kool-Aid), and cheesecake, homemade cream cheese mints, and Cadbury style candy for dessert.

Mowing down on homemade Easter candy

Having fun outside

Our guests included another expat from the states who is here doing medical work (particularly helping with kids who have club feet) and couple of her patients who were in the hospital getting casts done in preparation for surgery.  We dyed Easter eggs and did a hunt for the eggs and some chocolate bunnies I bought.  None of the Peruvians had ever done that before, so it was especially fun to see them dying eggs and on the hunt.

Egg decorating "I haven't done this in YEARS!"

Quite the artist, I think she enjoyed this.

Crayon polka dots

First time for both of them

She found (and cracked) a couple of eggs.

Searching for eggs and chocolate bunnies

Miss M found an egg in the dryer, so A thought she'd check it out, too.

Finally found her chocolate rabbit

It is fun for me to see how other people celebrate holidays in a foreign culture and also fun for me to see the universality of Jesus' story.  But, I missed my home culture something fierce during this holiday- it was the hardest one so far to be away from home.

The Holiday Series

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Advent

Christmas

New Years

Easter (that's this one)

Mother's Day