Day of the Virgin

We got our first taste of a true Nicaraguan celebration last Friday night, the eve of the Day of the Virgin (Mary´s bday). This is one of the country´s biggest holidays, and there sure was a whole lot of excitement building up to this event all month. Fireworks are incredibly popular here. They had been going off every day, all day all through November announcing the distance approach of the celebration. Every Catholic family (most) also puts a small shrine to the Virgin in a corner of their house. However, we couldn`t have predicted what the night would actually be like since all the big stuff was all going on behind the scenes.

Our host mom kept reminding us that we needed to be prepared with our backpacks to walk around town at 6:00 PM, and that we would be receiving lots of items for our new house. We also must learn at least two songs praising the Virgin Mary, which she provided us with. We were confused. Did we need to bring gifts also? Was it ok that we weren´t practicing Catholics? Here is a summary of the nights events:

The entire town, including the people in the smaller villages surrounding Nagarote, fill the streets around 6:00. They then walk in groups to particular houses around town. These houses have set up a massive shrine to the Virgin Mary somewhere inside or outside their home, complete with a large statue, candles, music, Christmas lights, etc. The group of people stands in front of the shrine and sings songs praising the Virgin Mary. Once the host family has deemed the singing worthy, gifts are handed out to all of the singers. Children, mothers, grandfathers, and ourselves then push to get to the front for the best items. The group then moves on to the next house to repeat. This goes on for almost exactly four hours until 10:00 Pm when everyone returns home.

This was a very interesting experience. First of all we, especially myself since Kaitlyn did formally attend Catholic churches, felt awkward singing songs praising a shrine of the Virgin. Also, we only practiced two songs, while throughout the night our family sang an assortment of about 6 or 7 songs. Not sure what to do, we ended up spending the majority of the night mouthing Spanish lyrics that we didn't know. The diversity of the gifts was also incredible. We never knew what to expect. Here´s a list of some items: candy, rice, cookies, corn on the cob, homemade deserts, juice, a bag of salt, fruit, pasta, superman plastic bowl, a plastic pitcher, laundry detergent, Tupperware, a bar of soap, sugar, a washcloth.

The eve of the Day of the Virgin was very surreal and definitely a great time. Everyone was in a really good mood. It's really a great way of having a community wide activity and also for some of the more wealthy families to redistributing some wealth back into the community. It was a prime opportunity for us to be able to see the entire population of our area, and also for them to see us participating in the event. Next year we'll be sure to have the songs memorized.