Novena Noche in La Esperanza
The other night, I got invited to a Novena with the family I live with.
A Novena is something Catholics do, for a person who has passed away. Here, the tradition is that the Novena take place exactly one year after the person´s death. A year ago, one of the brothers in the family passed away, quite young, of cancer. So a Novena was held for nine days for him in his house, with the family and friends in attendence.
It was quite an honor to be invited along, so of course I said yes, although I was a little bit worried, as neither of my teachers were going to be there-so I was going to have to manage with just my Spanish! We all piled into the car, and off we went to the brother´s house.
When we arrived, I noticed two things immediately: one, there were only women there; and two, the room we were all supposed to fit into was tiny. I mean, like really small, doll size. i felt enormous, and sort of felt like Alice in Alice in Wonderland-the doorway way so small, and there were like 30 women crammed in this tiny room, all looking at the gringa in wonder.
Someone showed me to a plastic chair, and there I sat, looking around, observing the scene. There were women of all ages there, in slightly formal dress. Everyone was very sweet and nodding my direction-there was some concern whether or not I was a Catholic- and after it was discovered I was, things relaxed. All the chairs faced a shrine,with a big painting of Jesus; photos of the deceased; candles; and flowers. There was sort of a white tent over the whole thing, and the closest family members sat near this tent area in the front.
Music was passed around, and after much talking and pleasantries, the women all begaan to sing. It was really beautiful, and i thought it especially so because it was just all these women singing sweetly in this tiny room, lit by candles.
The main part of the Novena is to pray for the deceased person´s soul. This is done using traditional Catholic prayers and of course, the rosary. For those of you not familiar with the rosary, it is basically a series of prayers and pleas for assistance to Mary. It is always the same for a Novena. The rosary was completely in Spanish, and I tried to keep up, but someone had thrust a toddler on my lap, and she was entertaining herself by putting my rosary in her mouth-so at a certain point, I just kept count of the beads in my head.
The Novena was very difficult for the family members, as the man had died quite young and left a wife and two children behind. But everyone kept their focus on their part of the Novena(it was decided beforehand which person would read which part) and so it went smoothly.
After the Novena was finished, the food was brought out. For Novenas, there are special foods prepared that are only for similiar occassions. For this particular night, they prepared coffee and a sort of deep fried tamale, filled with sugar and black beans. It was very rich and very sweet. Everyone was given quite alot of food, but hardly anyone ate much while there-napkins and containers accompanied the sweets, and pretty much everyone packed up their food to take home for the kids and the husbands.
I really enjoyed the experience-I felt like I got a glimpse of something, a part of the life here, that I would never get normally. it made me really happy that I had decided to live with the family, and that they considered me family enough to include me in such a private event. (for those of you out there concerned with such things-they wanted me to write about it here!)
The other thing I really enjoyed was that I was at an event with only women. Such things are rare here-although I´ve been in kitchens while tortillas and tamales were being prepared and there were only women present-it´s different when it´s outside of the home, and a formal event. Apparently men do attend sometimes, but only the most immediate male family members.
I really enjoyed the women´s singing,devotion, and comraderie. It was a very fulfulling evening.
Next time I write..on Tuesday,,I´ll be writing about Dia Del Diable(Day of the Devil) which was last night. On this day, they have huge bonfires and burn all their trash, clean their houses, and the kids have more fireworks than I´ve seen in my entire life!
gigi
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I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy following your volunteer trip… your writing is so clear it puts me right into the place – I can almost feel the cold cinder blocks and taste the tortillas!
I hope your trip is turning into everything you could have ever wanted – thanks so much for sharing it with the rest of us.
I just wanted to make sure you knew that I have been reading your journal with so much appreciation. Even though I know others are too, there were no comments, so I had to send you a fan letter, especially after reading about the Novena. nrnrThank you for allowing us a picture of your incredible journey. You write beautifully and evocatively. nrWith love,nrVicnr nrnrP.S. I sent your blog address to Jan and Laura. They will love it.
Hey, Como estas! I really enjoyed your blog! what a great work your doing out there, I love Guatemala tambien! Do you have an email? I would love to ask you a question.. Cuidate mucho
-Lee
Gigi, I wrote something to you,but I guess it didn’t go thru. I have a vivid picture of you in your travel clothes and open mindedness for new experiences. I’ll write more if this goes thru.
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