Sunday, October 12, 2008

¡Viva Chile!


Here in Chile we just wrapped up the month of September. Yup, believe it or not there are a few things about life in Chile that overlap with life in the United States. One of them happens to be the months of the year. However, September in Chile has a different significance than it does in Ohio and any other state, for that matter. September 18th is the Chilean equivalent of the Fourth of July in the States, though it commemorates the first meeting of the Chilean congress, and not the declaration of independence. Also unlike in the States, this national holiday is much more than just one day of celebration with a few additional days of fireworks shows. Actually, fireworks don’t really figure into the holiday. The 18th fell on a Thursday this year, which meant that the entire country had Thursday the 18th and Friday the 19th as legal holidays, followed by a two day weekend. At the colegio we got a few additional free days: Monday the 15th through Wednesday the 17th, which meant over a week without class. Then, take into consideration that the previous Thursday and Friday were days packed full of activities, skill challenges, and dance contests in the colegio, and you will realize that we had nearly a week and a half without class. This is not to say there was not anything to do at the colegio; far from it, actually, during the first few days of festivities. Thursday and Friday there were no classes. Instead, the students competed in various games of skill. In addition, each homeroom presented a choreographed routine of traditional dances. On Saturday the 13th, the school had a mass “a la chilena,” which involves traditional dances including the cueca from the central region and more colorful and choreographed dances from the desert region in the north, mostly in homage to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who is the patroness of Chile. Following mass there was a fonda or festival where the students presented their dances in full garb for teachers and parents, and there were stands selling shish-kebabs and other chilean food and some drinks.
The best part of this evening was seeing all of the families of the school there appreciating over three, perhaps even four, generations the cultural heritage of Chile. I had a hard time responding to people who inevitably and frequently asked what celebrations there are in the United States that are analogous to the Fiestas Patrias in Chile. The brief answer is that there is none. The Fourth of July would be the closest thing, but in the United States we lack the music and dance traditions that are such an elemental part of the Chilean national holiday. The traditional foods also far outnumber any traditional foods the States may have for Independence Day. Fortunately, we did not have to fend for ourselves on the 18th and the days following. Thanks to the gracious invitation of the Candelori family we had a delicious barbecue and mote con huesillos, which is a dessert made from husked wheat soaked in peach syrup, spiced, and served with dried peaches. The Candelori’s are grandparents of Coni Gallardo, who is in fifth grade at the colegio. In their house live Coni with her sister and mom, another daughter of theirs with her husband and daughter, as well as their youngest son Francisco who is two years older than us.
I forgot to mention what we did in the days leading up to the 18th. Since the entire week we were school free, we took advantage of Monday to lay low and rest. Tuesday we explored downtown Santiago by foot, passing by the president’s building (basically the Chilean White House, except that the president doesn’t live there) and visiting a few impressive-looking churches. Then Wednesday we went to fly kites in O’Higgins Park. September and October (the months that correspond to spring in Chile) are the only time of the year when there is a strong breeze in Santiago. John, Michelle, and I went with Raul (a freshman at the colegio who lives nearby) and four kids from an orphanage that Michelle often goes to visit. We had a lot of fun, but unfortunately ran into a group of kite cutters who have string coated with fiberglass who snipped our kite strings and ran away with our kites.
So, as if that weren’t enough, the 19th and 20th we travelled, by invitation, north of Santiago to San Felipe to visit the home and family of Oliver Escobar, a 26-year-old who teaches philosophy and works in the pastoral offices of the colegio. San Felipe is a very picturesque rural town, and thankfully the weather cooperated to offer plenty of amazing scenic views. Oliver’s family is very active in the practice of their country’ cultural roots, so they included us in their celebrations during the time we shared with them. His grandma, who is 73 years old, plays the guitar and sings as though she were twenty. Everyone dances cueca, the national dance. We were quite pleased at first to observe their well-practiced dances, since all of them have years or decades of experience. To our slight embarrassment, they later asked us to give it a try. We did this without any explicit instruction. Thankfully they were very gracious, and later even gave us some detailed lessons later. I am very proud to say that I now at least know the basic movement of the cueca and can dance with a Chilean without feeling completely unconfident. After this extended pre-party, the entire extended family went out to dance cueca, corrido, and cumbia at a tent party with a live band. After the toll of midnight (more or less) the youth then went out to another more crowded and lively dance that took place in the town nearby and had more popular modern music (reggaeton). The following day, after sleeping in a bit, we hiked around a bit to take in the nice scenery, which was a great way to wind down after all of the dancing action of the previous day.
I had hoped to relax all day on Sunday to recuperate for the school week, only to receive an invitation from the host family of one of my friends from study abroad in 2007. I joined them for a barbecue and some catching up. I have to admit it was a pleasant day, and the food was delicious, but the next week at school I was incredibly tired.
As you can see, the Chilean national holiday experience surpassed the expectations I held from what I had heard last year. Until the next update (hopefully sooner than this one arrived), I hope this message finds you all very well. To those of you north of the equator, please enjoy the fall, which I miss even though the spring here is admittedly very enjoyable. Chau!