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Published: November 30th 2008
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It is so nice to be home. And by home, I mean my training town and Moncha's family. I miss having kids around. Missed JJ. Missed Moncha's awesome food. She had a nacatamal waiting for me when I came in the door. I'm spoiled. Missed a family that laughs and jokes and says goodnight, rest well, and that seems to care about me. Missed my bed, for crying out loud.
At this point, the ONLY thing I miss at my site, is the awesome dog, Estrella. The rest could come or go.
Entonces.
So I went to my first promocion in Nicaragua, or graduation. My host brother, Isaac, graduated from high school. A while ago I bought "The Alchemist" in Spanish because, well, I've read that book more than any other, it's simple, and figured it would be a good one to start reading in Spanish. But then Isaac graduated, and I figured he needed it. Because every new graduate needs some inspiration and a fable about following your dreams.
And yesterday I also attended my first Nicaraguan purisima.
You know, this keyboard is nice because its an American keyboard, being as I"m in the PC
office in Esteli, but it sucks because I can't add on the appropriate accents.
At any rate, I went to a Purisima in my training town. I had no idea what to expect. I am not a religious person and am certainly not Catholic. But all the kids in my family were going, as was my sister-in-law, and they urged me to go.
We joined a group, mostly of kids, a few adults, and the Senora and Senor from whose house it would take place, who were walking down the road, carrying an altar with the Virgin Mary, and singing songs about the Concepcion de Maria. We arrived at the house to a chorus of bottle rockets going off, sat down outside next to an elaborate altar set up, and they continued to pray and sing songs about Mary. We were handed sweets and gifts, they sang though lines of firecrackers that reminded me of Chinese New Year in Beijing, the kids all got gifts, and then we left.
I was confused. So I googled it. And apparently the purisima is a very Nicaraguan celebration. I was also confused because I'd been told that it was the
7th/8th of December, but no! They start the 28th of November and go on to the 7th of December. As the following article, which was copy pasted here, explains.
So, that's that. Graduations. Catholics' love of Mary. Heading back to Moropoto tomorrow.
Also, am going to start listening to my Christmas music and get in the spirit. I need Christmas.
PS Holy crap tomorrow is DECEMBER. Yup, starting the Christmas music on my ipod as I type.
Venerating the Virgin: Hail Mary!
Origins of La Purísima
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by Carlos Schmidt, originally published in Nica News 19 (December 1998)
http://www.nicanews.com.ni/nn19/origenes.html
One of the uniquely Nicaraguan customs of the Christmas season is the Purísima tradition. Celebrating the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary by her mother, Ana, this annual celebration has taken hold in Nicaragua as in few other places in the world. In order to understand the happiness that is so prevalent during this celebration, some thought should be given to its origin. Though a good history of the Purísima tradition remains to be written, a few facts may shed some light on this celebration for the interested observer.
The cult of
the worship of Mary, mother of Jesus, is a very old tradition in the Catholic Church. At least by the 6th century, the church fathers had made a conscious decision to publicly worship Mary. Done for a variety of reasons, the adoration of Mary in some ways resembled the worship of venerated goddesses in other religions of the Middle East.
As with other characteristics of the early church, the idea was to attract as many believers as possible, and so well-known, pre-existing symbols were incorporated into its rituals, rites, and customs.
For example, the custom of building the basilica, or church on the eastern side of the town square, a custom commonly employed during the colonial era, was the practice as noted by the famous architect Vitrubius about the year 50 AD, before Christianity became widespread. Similarly, the use of processions and statues to publicly celebrate a deity was established in Roman culture before the advent of Christianity.
The history of the particular celebration of the conception of the mother of Jesus, Mary, —called the Purísima in Nicaragua (short for the "Purísima Concepción de María")— is rife with different versions, some believable, others less so.
There
is no one clear theory as to how it started or when, but some information is available. Apparently by at least the 18th century, some form of the Purísima was celebrated by Franciscans, perhaps first in Granada, perhaps first in León-El Viejo.
The Granadan version is that the Purísima began to be worshipped because a statue of Mary was found floating in the waters of Lake Nicaragua. The statue had been in El Castillo on the San Juan River. During an attack by the English on the castle, a statue of Mary, in its case, was somehow tossed into the river, where it drifted upstream and across the lake to Granada. There it was found by women washing clothes on the shore on December 7, 1721.
No matter that this was at a time after the War of the Spanish Succession had ended and some time before the War of Jenkin's Ear commenced. Somehow, the statue got to Granada where it is still worshipped today.
Washing the plates
A similar tradition may have begun in El Viejo or León during the colonial period. The basilica at El Viejo, site of one of the largest chiefdoms at
the onset of the Spanish conquest, is the only national sanctuary of the Virgin Mary in Nicaragua. The celebration begins on November 28, and on December 6 a unique ceremony in Nicaragua is held: "the washing of the plates."
Under guard at the basilica is the finest example of colonial silversmithing in Nicaragua and perhaps in all of Central America. Though little known, Nicaragua produced silver since the beginning of the colonial era and had extensive silver mines in operation in the latter part of the 18th century.
The altar pieces, retablos, and related sacred items —all made of solid silver— are washed with lemon juice every December 6th by a high church official. In the last few years, that has been Cardinal Obando y Bravo or the Bishop of León, Monsignor Bosco Vivas Robelo.
Whatever the colonial origin of the celebration, there is no doubt that a 19th century papal act greatly encouraged the Mariana tradition as well as the Purísima. In 1854, Pope Pius IX decreed the Immaculate Conception of Mary as part of the official Church dogma. From then on, with official church approval, the Purísima tradition has been a part of Nicaraguan culture
and tradition.
The Mary Season
Other elements of the tradition include building an altar of worship in the entrance to one's house and inviting guests to come, worship, and receive special Purísima foods and sweets, usually made from some form of sugar cane. For children, it is somewhat like the American custom of a Halloween without costumes, with children going from house to house, singing songs to Mary in order to obtain candy.
Another characteristic is the liberal (to some, extreme) use of fireworks and firecrackers, the unforgettable Nicaraguan "triquitraca". Probably a part of Spanish religious festivals since the invention of gunpowder, this presence of fireworks makes spending an evening in Managua on December 7th unforgettable. Some youngsters celebrating the Purísima become so enthusiastic that they try to spread the happiness, throwing burning firecrackers into cars passing by with their windows down.
But without a doubt, a visitor or resident almost anywhere in any population center in Nicaragua will know he or she is in Nicaragua and nowhere else in the world
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Ben
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acentos
Hpefully this help you to type using spanish characters. press down the key ALT keep it down and type the numbers. Good luck to you Capitals Á ALT+0193 É ALT+0201 Í ALT+0205 Ó ALT+0211 Ú ALT+0218 Ñ ALT+0209 Ü ALT+0220 Lowercase á ALT+0225 é ALT+0233 í ALT+0237 ó ALT+0243 ú ALT+0250 ñ ALT+0241 ü ALT+0252 Punctuation ¿ ALT+0191 ¡ ALT+0161