So, tonight’s the night, posadas here on Tia Vero’s street, which has been our home base. And I get to cook dinner! I’ve been missing being in the kitchen, so it was nice day. We did laundry early in the morning and after noon, I got to work, in the kitchen. Since I started early, it was very relaxed and I got to just take my time. As always, I think I bought too much chicken, so I split it and cooked it in two pots, because if I hadn’t there wouldn’t be any room to add the vegetables. Cooking here, is a little different because they don’t have too many spices, but the one thing I love that they have in plenty here are the chiles manzanos! A very spicy, very flavorful orange chile, that’s wider than it is long. You can find them over there in the Mexican/Ranch Markets, but are usually pretty small and very expensive. The size of the chiles here are easily 2-3 times bigger than you can find them over there. And for lack of seasonings, I threw in a couple of those chiles to cook with the chicken and it seemed to spice it up to perfection. Tia Prima liked it just fine, Tia Vero said it was spicy but “suavecito” because it was good flavor and not too overwhelming! Pheeew! I’m glad they liked it. It would’ve been real plain had it not been for those chiles!
While I was finishing up dinner - they were all finishing up the decorations for the entrance for the posada. They created a walkway by setting up bamboo stalks and decorating them with balloons and crepe paper. At the back of the entrance is a sheet, so the group would walk up to it, ask to stay and people behind the curtain turn them away. Since the posada was going through are street tonight, we kind of cheated and just waited until the group got to us. Primos (cousins) Maribel y Ephrain got to the house early, so we got to hang out with them and be entertained by their smiley baby boy Ephraim. He loves the camera and every time we set off the flash he would just crack up laughing! It’s just such a contagious laugh! Sooo cute!
Once the group got to the house, we went up on the roof to get a bird’s eye view, and just as I’m climbing up the ladder Gerardo sets off a bomba (bomb firework, just sound really no sparks, but really loud, Josue says it’s like an M-80 or M-60) and scares all the ladies right below him! From here we walk down the street with the group to the next stop but pass them to get to the destination house. Since this was Tia Vero’s posada day, she contributed ponche, breads and bolsas… so we got to go in early to the host house to get ready to help pass out the treats. Once everybody was inside the yard of the host house, and the rosary was complete, we started passing out treats. Gerardo passed out the cups, Chucho and I served the ponche and Tia Vero passed out the breads. The yard was packed and I could barely even move through the crowd - and all of a sudden I’m hearing my name from every direction - “Sarah, Sarah…” with cousins and nephews holding out their cups so I can give them ponche. I can see why this is a community effort because the group of people is so big, you need to have people set up all over the yard just to get to everybody. Because between Chucho & I - all of the ponche we had was gone and we didn’t even really make it out of the 15 sq feet area that we started from! After we were done passing out the treats, and got to drink ponche ourselves, Josue’s little cousin Emmanuel asked me if I was nervous to serve the ponche? This made Josue and I laugh, and I told him no. But that was a noteworthy moment, because all though the family has always been welcoming to me, and they do try to include me in the conversations, up until that point, they usually talk to me through Josue. They ask a question about me, and he always tells them to ask me. Emmanuel asked me that question directly (and he’s one of the more quiet ones) and I answered him directly. This seemed to just snowball, because right after that, Tia Elia was asking me about the novelas and what’s been happening on them.
Once it seemed that the majority of the group was done with their ponche, all of a sudden toy balls came flying out of the second story of the host house into the crowd. It didn’t take too long, for everyone to start calling out for them. They easily through out 5 dozen balls into the crowd. This was a treat, I hadn’t seen at a posada before. But it was a real cute idea and it made it a lot of fun. Everyone was jumping up trying to catch a ball, and it would bounce from one section into another. I almost caught one 3 different times, until I realized it was because I had my gloves on why I couldn’t get a grip on it! I was too caught up in playing - but then I took my gloves off and it was still the same result!
After that - people started to exit the property to the street and on their way out is when they received their bag of treats! We stayed inside the yard playing around with his cousin Gerardo, because I stole his ball and he kept trying to get it back. Then we played on the swings, then Gerardo made me a deal that he would help me with my Spanish if I helped him with his English - sounds good! Once the yard was clear, we walked outside to the street, where they were setting up for the piñatas! Maybe it was because we knew a lot more of the kids that attended this posada, who knows really why - but we had the most fun at this posada! Watching them all go at the piñata and seeing the dog piles with people we know just seemed to make us laugh a whole lot more! This time they had 5 piñatas total, but they were able to make them last and give plenty of people a chance to hit them. The other thing that was really neat to me, is that all 5 of these piñatas were made by our family. Gerardo (12) made one that’s pretty traditional for piñatas here, a festive looking kind, of star, Tia Elia made one that looked like Aunt Gemima, and Emmanuel (15) made three of the five and I personally thought his were the most creative and cute. One was a carrot, that came out so good, a cute shape that I wouldn’t have thought of to make out of a clay pot. Another was a clown that was very cute, and the most creative one - I personally hadn’t seen a piñata that looked like this before - was a flower! So creative, and I was so impressed because they looked like professional piñatas - first of all they were all made with real clay pots, and second the kid’s piñatas all were so crafty and made with such detail and attention to quality. They all looked better than most you can find over there in the states that cost a lot and usually don’t look all too great.
Once we got back home, we sat in the kitchen for a night cap - some had ponche y pan (punch and bread) and Josue and I had Zucaritas (frosted flakes). Tia Elia and her crew from next door came in to hang out for a bit to “shoot the chisme” (gossip) about the posada and so and so. So tonight we definitely got the full experience of what it takes to make these posadas happen. The group effort all the work, all the fun and play, all the treats, and then afterward all the gossip on all the little hiccups that happened in between!
This was such a fun night! And so far - we both agreed we’ve had the most fun at this posada of all!
It’s such an organized event and as someone whose only seeing this for the second time, I find myself paying much more attention to all the work that’s taken place behind the scenes to make these posadas turn out the way they do. And the fact that they are going on all over the country right now, I try to think of something like this in the states, and I can’t think of one thing that happens throughout the country the way this tradition does here. It seems very interesting to me, it’s like a combination of Christmas caroling and Trick-or-Treating. For a country where some have such low income, it’s neat to see people work together to make this happen and keep this tradition going for the kids. Where neighbors might not have too much interaction normally, they will still come together for this. It really is a tradition that brings people together.
SuperGirl! Her shirt made us think of Ish!
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