Regarding Christmas...

The celebration of the birth of Christ has now come and gone, and I am sure that my vast (I can only hope) readership is fascinated to learn how I spent the holiday. Many volunteers choose to go home to the States, and there are also lots who choose to go to the beach. I opted to stay in my community and learn how back country Dominican farmers do the whole Christmas thing. I am glad I did.

It was nothing terribly outrageous. The awful roads and near total lack of electricity put some limitations on what we are able to do as far as a celbration goes. Still, my neigborhood's population has been about doubled by the flocks of children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, second cousins, and random acquaintances who have come to call. Some enterprising souls managed to purchase gasoline powered generators, so few houses have had lights and music. Dominicans tend to use loud music and dancing to observe any occasion that is worth observing (Christmas, birthdays, elections, Saturday nights...the list goes on), so there has been a lot of it. The music kicks on around 4 PM and goes at least until 11. The rum has also been flowing in no small amounts. The atmosphere has generally been very festive (and people are offering free food all the time...awesome).

I went to my local evangelical church for Christmas Eve worship. I think there were about 15 of us there, most of whom were young kids who fell asleep before we were finished. It was not exactly the candle light service I am used to, but the lantern light was very candle-esque, and the building we met in is kind of a tumble down old wooden house that I guess looks like a stable. It felt like an appropriate way to celebrate. I learned some Dominican carols, and shared a few of my favorites in English.

I went to bed early, being sure to set out a snack for Santa (a cup of tea, some crackers with peanut butter). He didn't seem to want them, so I had a nice pre-breakfast snack waiting the next morning ;-) .

One of the many Christmas traditions that my family observes is the eating of a delicious breakfast on Christmas morning. I decided to carry on the tradition, and share it with my neigbors. I cooked about a thousand pancakes. This took a little while, because my only frying pan is just big enough to do one flap-jack at a time. Fortunately, I had an army of small children helping me (one adding butter to the pan, one keeping the batter stirred, two manning the platter where the finished pancakes were stacked, one on syrup duty, and about six who were assigned to deliver the finished results to the various households.) so it was a lot of fun. Their reward for helping out was pancakes (I had a lot of them, after all) and a reading, in translation, of Curious George.

In the afternoon I was invited to go crab hunting. This involves hiking through the river, looking for holes in the bank where the crabs might be nesting, and reaching ones arm into the hole to see if anyone is home. If there is a crab, you do your best to grab onto it and pull it out. Often the crab manages to grab onto you first. I have not yet taken a turn at reaching down the hole, but maybe one of these days. If you come visit next Christmas I can take you on a hunt. The meat makes a delicious (and cheap) Christmas supper.