The night of December 7th marked the true beginning of the Christmas season in my family's life in Colombia. Tomorrow, the Roman Catholic church observes the "day of the Immaculate Conception". Tonight on sidewalks and driveways and patios and streets all around Cali, people will light hundreds and hundreds of candles. I am not sure of the origin of this tradition. But I remember spending the afternoon of the 7th putting up candles--the record in our family was 5000 one year.
We were able to put that many candles out because our gardener, R, had brought with him a tradition from the small villages out in sugar cane country. A couple of weeks before the 7th, my dad would buy "guadua"--a type of bamboo. While it was still fresh, R would split the guadua into long slats that could then be bent to make notched arches. On the afternoon of the 7th, everyone--maids, kids, mom, dad, cousins, neighbors, would work feverishly, heating the bottom of each candle enough to melt a little wax and stand the candle up in the wax on one of the notches of the cane. I wish I could post a picture to show you. Our house was built on a hill and the garden extended a long way out from that hill so we could sit on our porch, watch the candles burn and in the distance, see the lights of Cali like we were a ship coming into harbor. The menu was the same each year: hot dogs and chips, salad, and the big treat: Coca Cola. The party lasted late into the night--we never had school on the 8th since the day of the Immaculate Conception was a national holiday. And then, truly, the butterflies would kick into high gear for me. Christmas was coming!
Cali is so close to the equator that there is only a few minutes difference between when the sun sets on June 21st and December 21st. Nights were warm velvet and most of the year, fragrant with the smell of jasmine. Even so, we too needed a way to push back the darkness to begin Christmas.
R died this year; his liver finally gave out. Today, I am going to spend the day putting out the Christmas decorations in my home. LoML and I have a dinner engagement but we will be home pretty early. And then, we are going to put out the velitas. Christmas is coming.
This Advent blog is so powerful. Thank you.
Thank you also for sharing your parenting struggles; I am in awe as I learn how to better work with a child who can be very challenging at times but in much less dramatic ways. Blessings on all of you--and on your increasingly recognized call and, I would say, gift for writing as well.
Posted by: Mother Laura | December 07, 2007 at 09:46 AM