Party Non Stop

I didn´t know what to expect with Panamanian holidays in the Comarca, since in many ways living in the Comarca is culturally like living in a different country than Panama. Now I know that November and December are not times to expect high productivity!

Nov 2 : Dia de Difunto (Day of the Dead - Memorial Day) - No School. No sign of mourning though.

Nov 3: Independence Day from Gran Colombia - The elementary school had a ceremony with the national anthem, poetry recitations, and speeches from the teachers. A small parade with the school band and baton twirlers.

Nov 4: Flag Day - No school. No sign of flag waving.

Nov 22: Anniversary of the Foundation of the District of Lajero (district where I live)- This holiday caught me by surprise because it is not a national holiday. My distirct invited several other surrounding schools to join our parade and competition. School marching bands and their families hiked for up to 2 hours to come to the event. In the afternoon there was judging, poetry recitations, and singing competitions. After I went home, the dance started and I could still hre the music at 8 am the next morning. More than 24 hours after the party had started, I saw people stumbling home completely covered in mud.

Nov 28: Independence Day from Spain - No school. No celebration, as my community was clearly still recovering from the 22nd.

Dec 8: Mother´s Day - On Dec 6 the school invited the mothers (and me) for gifts (plates or cups), games, and food. On Dec 7th the local politician invited the mothers (and me) for the same thing. On Dec 8th I went with my host mom to a church (not hers) for the same thing, plus a sermon. On Sunday Dec 11th, I hiked an hour and a half to visit a sister church for... the same thing! Three of the functions had the same recorder/guitar trio and by the end I could have called myself a groupie.
On Mother´s Day, my host uncle killed a cow and sold the meat for $1.50/lb (same price as chicken! a good deal). All in all, I definitely got Mother´s Day´d out, especially since I´m not a mother.

Dec 25th: Christmas Day - No cow was killed, so it was not as big of a deal as Mother´s Day or New Years. Families do not seem to exchange gifts for Christmas. The elementary school celebrated the week before with a meal for all students, and dolls and cars for the first graders. I went to my host family´s church activity on the 25th. The 40 kids or so played games to compete for the 5 available prizes, but some of the games were too difficult so the adults competed for the kid´s prizes. There was enough food for everyone in attendance (a recurring holiday theme).

December 31st : New Years - A very polarizing holiday in my community. Most church-attending people headed to a 4 day evangelical church conference a few hours away, or stayed at home. In my community center there was a big party with firecrackers, fermented corn liquor, scarecrow burning, and general debauchery. I spent New Years even in the city and then headed to the church conference for 1 night to meet up with my host family.

All in all, the holidays were a great way to get to know my community. Next year I will be more prepared to pick and choose which events to attend!