the last activity

pictures

Today’s activity was the best of the entire 9 weeks. We went to San Antonio Aguas Calientes, a pueblo about 15 minutes outside of Antigua. First we had to walk all the way to the bus station and find the bus we needed. Once we found it we sat in it for about 15 minutes or so waiting for it to fill up. Finally we left, picking up tons of more people along the way.

In S.A. we walked a little ways to the center of town where we sat in a little store and four women proceeded to demonstrate a variety of things for us. One woman did the talking and shared a bunch of information about each thing. it was all very interesting, the things I actually understood. :-)

The first thing the demonstrated was the thanking of God for that year’s harvest. In order to thank Him they do a little dance. There was a music, but not entertaining music. It was the same little tune over and over again. Each woman had a little pot that was on fire and bunches of smoke came out of each one. First the knelt in a circle and raised their pots up to the sky and back down to the ground 5 or 6 times. Then they got up and started dancing around. I can’t describe this dance, but it’s very simple. Basically just left and right and past each other, forward and backward, all while moving left and right.

After that two female students volunteered to be dressed up in a headdress to show us how girls are chosen to be wives. At a certain age (14 or so), if they haven’t got a boyfriend already, they have a headdress put on them. One is for a girl who doesn’t have much experience, the other for one who has a lot of experience. A cloth is laid upon their shoulder and whenever they are out working they wear this cloth over their shoulder. If a guy decides he wants to marry her, while she’s walking he comes up from behind and takes her cloth. At that point she is considered taken and will marry the man who took it. She has no choice in the matter.

Then there’s the wedding. They bride gives her mother-in-law a cloth and drapes it over her shoulders and ties it at the front. Then the bride, groom, and all the family kneel down and each member of the family blesses the couple with petals. If the family is large, this could take up to 3 hours or more. After all the blessing is done, the party begins. The dancing continues until the mother-in-law takes off the cloth. She can take the cloth off in acceptance of her son’s wife or to show her disapproval of his choice. If she disapproves, I think it’s allowed for the son to choose another wife. Anyways, during the party there is dancing and eating. The typical meal is homemade tortillas, soup with rice and chicken, and hand-ground coffee.

Also demonstrated was the grounding of the coffee and tortilla-making. As well, the different kinds of cloths the women weave, how they are used, and how it’s done. These women, I tell ya, are and were VERY intelligent. They use one cloth for 5 different things … carrying things as a purse, covering up when it’s cold, draping over their heads when the sun is high and hot, strapping their children to their bodies, and as a base to help carry pots of water or other unstable things atop their heads. Absolutely amazing.

And the weaving. Wow! Such detail! Some weaves take only one woman to make. But others take several. She straps the tapestry to a rope hanging from a tree or something high up. Then she straps the part she’s working on around her butt, kneels down, and begins working. She then works for up to 6 hours in one day in that position, every day, for up to 6 months, depending on the design.

The women here, and in other countries I know, are so strong it’s incredible! They carry up to 50 pounds on their heads, with one or two kids strapped to them, and sell stuff on the streets, all at the same time! they kneel for 6 hours straight to make beautiful tablecloths we spill gravy on at dinnertime. They ground coffee and make tortillas, by hand, for every meal. And they do this every day. And more! I’m amazed and have great respect for them … I could never be that strong.

It’s now nearly 8:30 p.m. as I type this. For the second time I heard a drumming outside, so I decided to get up to see what it was. I’m glad I did. It was the yearly thing called Posadas. Every year a group of people carry a statue of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus and go to different houses to spend the night, every night, until December 23. It symbolizes the journey the famous Biblical family made when all the sons of Egypt were ordered to be killed. They start on the 12th, I think. As they walk they drum on turtle shells and carry little lanterns. There were quite a lot of people. I’m sure most of them were just following for the fun of it. there was also a little bit of singing and firecrackers to accompany. Of course firecrackers. We can’t even wake up around here without those!

So many traditions here. So many interesting things.