For Spanish During what's called the "holiday season," holidays are numerous in both the U.S. and Mexico, beginning with Halloween on Oct. 31 and continuing into January. It's a time rich in tradition and customs, many of them borrowed from other cultures and incorporated into our own. It's also a time when animosities and rivalries are put aside in favor of a spirit of peace and goodwill.
Halloween is celebrated on both sides of the border with carved pumpkins, and decorations featuring spiders, witches, ghosts, goblins, skeletons, and other scary supernatural apparitions. The word Halloween is short for All Hallows Even or Eve, meaning the day before All Hallows (All Saints) Day. In the Catholic Church Nov. 1 is All Saints Day, but in Mexico it is known as Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). See the article by Linda Neil elsewhere in this issue about the celebration of this unique and wonderful holiday.
Halloween has been celebrated as an American holiday for many years and is also well-known in Mexico. It's a time to dress up in costumes and go from door to door asking for treats. "Trick or treat," a ritual way of asking for candy, has grown from what used to be a much more real threat. Some of the "tricks" played were pretty drastic. I remember stories from the time of my grandparents and great-grandparents of farm wagons placed on barn roofs, outhouses overturned, and bells removed from church steeples. We weren't quite so adventurous when I was a child, but there were kids (of course I was never one of them) who wrote on screen windows with soap, put vaseline on doorknobs, and emptied buckets of water on porches where the owners didn't give out treats.
I was in Puerto Peñasco on Halloween and went to a candy store to see what I could find. There were many beautiful candies I hadn't seen in the U.S., square marshmallows striped green, white, and red like the Mexican flag; little vials of tiny colored candies, lollipops made of colorfully striped taffy poured into tiny plastic cups, and my favorite, miniature glazed and decorated ceramic pots filled with a sweet, spicy tamarind paste. I brought some of all these back for my grandchildren, and they loved them.
Veterans' Day is celebrated in the U.S. on Nov. 11. This is the anniversary of the end of World War I, Nov. 11, 1918. It was originally called Armistice Day, but the name was later changed to Veterans' Day to honor those who have fought other conflicts, not just that one. It is not usually a big holiday, being overshadowed by Halloween and Thanksgiving, but some businesses close down, many people fly their flags at half-staff, and there are parades and trips to the cemetery to lay wreaths on the graves of family members who have died in their country's wars.
Nov. 20 is the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, which occurred in 1910. It is a national holiday. Schools and businesses are closed, and the day is celebrated with parades, speeches, music, dancing, and parties. In Puerto Peñasco, the parade traditionally starts at the Municipal Building and goes along Blvd. Juarez to the stadium. All the school kids participate in the parade and then gather in the stadium for a program in which many of the students sing, dance, and recite poetry for an audience of their families and friends. The emphasis is on authentic Mexican culture. In the evening, there are many "Mexican Night" parties, but often these are so expensive that only the wealthy can attend.
In the U.S. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. it commemorates the feast held by the Pilgrim settlers in New England to give thanks to God for having survived their first winter and gathered their first harvest in the new world. They invited the Indians who had befriended and helped them. The meal consisted of wild turkey, cranberries, and corn, which the Indians had introduced to the Pilgrims. I don't know if there were pumpkin pies for dessert, but it is possible, since pumpkins were another food that the Indians introduced to the settlers. Anyway, today the memory of that first Thanksgiving is preserved in the traditional menu of turkey with cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Some families put three grains of corn at each person's place to remind them of the earlier time when that was all the Pilgrims had to eat. Although Thanksgiving began as a religious holiday, it is celebrated by all Americans, whatever their faith, as a time for families to be together and appreciate the blessings they have.
Dec. 12 is the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. The story says that she appeared to a humble Indian peasant, Juan Diego, on the hill of Tepeyac, north of Mexico City. She was a dark-skinned virgin, who looked like a Mexican. She told Juan to tell the bishop to build a shrine to her on that site. She caused her picture to appear on his cloak as a sign of her authenticity. The bishop had the shrine built, and Mexicans celebrate this day in honor of the virgin. Many ceremonies take place in and around her shrine.
There are very few Jews in Mexico, and so Jewish holidays are not familiar, but in the U.S. Passover, Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and Hanukkah are well-known. Hanukkah is based on the lunar calendar, so it occurs on different dates each year, either in late November or December. This year it is from December 14 through December 21. Since Hanukkah occurs near Christmas, many Christians believe that it is a Jewish version of Christmas, but this is not true; Hanukkah for the Jews is not a major holiday like Passover or Yom Kippur, but they have borrowed some customs from the dominant culture, such as sending cards and giving gifts. In some families the children receive one gift every night of Hanukkah.
Hanukkah signifies a liberation from oppression. In the second century B.C.E.(before the Common Era), the Jews, under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus, had beaten back their Syrian oppressor, Antiochus, and cleaned up the temple which had been destroyed. Although there was only enough oil to burn a candle for one night, God miraculously made the candle burn for eight nights. To commemorate the occasion, during the eight nights of Hanukkah, Jews light candles in a menorah, a special candelabrum that holds 9 candles. The large one is lit on the first night and burns every night. An additional candle is lighted each night until on the eighth night all nine candles are burning.
Christmas must be the most eclectic of holidays. It has borrowed and intermingled so many traditions from so many countries that it's hard to know what originated where. Candles are of course part of many ancient religious traditions, and lights are still an important feature of Christmas. In the U.S. strings of colored bulbs decorate almost every house. Some displays are really elaborate, with lights outlining windows and doors, rooftops, and chimneys or strung on outdoor trees, bushes, and in Arizona even on saguaros. The traditional lights in Mexico are luminarias, paper bags partly filled with sand with a lighted candle stuck into the sand in each bag. These are used to outline houses, walkways, sometimes rooftops. Luminarias are becoming as well-known in the U.S. (at least in the Southwest) as colored lights are in Mexico.
The Christmas tree is a Germanic custom, commemorated in the carol "O Tannenbaum." Santa Claus and his 8 reindeer are part of a Dutch tradition, but Rudolf, the red-nosed reindeer, is a recent American invention that has been incorporated into the story. In many U.S. shopping malls, Santa appears on the day after Thanksgiving and daily thereafter until Christmas. Parents take their small children to sit on Santa's lap, receive a candy cane, and tell Santa what they want him to bring them for Christmas.
In Mexico an important feature of the Christmas season is the nacimiento, a tableau portraying the nativity, with figures of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and the Magi and shepherds. For Scandinavians the Yule log is a Christmas tradition. Plum pudding is part of the holiday celebration in England, as is the custom of caroling, which is also practiced in other European countries.
In the U.S. in recent years, the Christmas letter has become prevalent, as a variation on the older tradition of sending cards with hand-written notes. In today's fast-paced society with mass-production technology available, many families write a letter telling of their activities for the past year, photocopy it, and send it out with their cards. It's a good way for widely-separated families and friends to keep up with each other. I've been doing this for years and have found that the accumulated Christmas letters provide a concise record of family history.
In Mexico dramatic posadas reenact the search of Mary and Joseph for a place to stay. Pastorelas, or plays about various subjects, are commonly performed two weeks before Christmas. On Christmas Eve families go to midnight mass (sometimes moved up to 10 p.m.) and then open their gifts. This Christmas Eve tradition is preserved by Mexican-American families in the U.S., as well as those of Germanic heritage, but many American families open their gifts on Christmas morning in keeping with the English tradition.
Food and festivities are of course part of the celebration in both countries. In Mexico pinatas filled with candy are common at parties. Some of the traditional Mexican holiday foods are bunuelas (fried flour tortillas served with syrup), tamales, and in Central Mexico molé. Fruit cake and candies of all kinds are common in both Mexico and in the U. S.; striped red and white candy canes are traditional for Christmas. Many families bake special cookies cut into Christmas shapes and decorated with frosting, colored sugar, and tiny candies. Mexicans serve ponche, a hot fruit tea with liquor added. For Christmas dinner, turkey is traditional in the U.S. and in northern Mexico, although other meats are often served.
In the central and southern parts of Mexico December 25 is observed as a religious holiday, but gifts are given and festivities celebrated on Jan. 6, Three Kings Day. This holiday is traditional in many European countries as well.
A holiday that is virtually unknown in Mexico and has only recently been celebrated in the U.S. is Kwanzaa. It was started by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966, as a way for African Americans to celebrate their rich heritage and to emphasize ideals to live by. It is a cultural, not a religious holiday and lasts for 7 days, starting Dec. 26, and the ideals emphasized on the seven days are: Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith.
In preparation for the celebration, a straw mat is placed on the table, along with a seven-candle candle holder with seven candles, one black (placed in the center), three red (on the right), and three green (on the left). The black candle represents the African-American people, the red is for their struggles, and the green represents their hopes for the future. Every night one candle is lit. Other items placed on the table are a variety of fruit, ears of corn to reflect the number of children in the household, gifts, and a communal cup.
The last major holiday of the season, our New Year, is only one of many. Hindus have just finished celebrating Diwali, their new year. Jews commemorated Rosh Hashanah in October. The Chinese New Year takes place in February. Another new beginning occurs July 1 for accountants and corporations that operate on a fiscal year basis. Why isn't New Year celebrated at one of these times, or in the spring, which feels like a rebirth for those who have experienced a frozen and desolate winter. People living in cold climates seem to have a surge of energy when spring comes. They clean their houses and reorganize their garages, plant gardens, and buy new clothes. We who live in the Sonoran Desert experience a similar resurgence of energy in the fall. The summer heat stops being oppressive, and we feel like doing things we have put off all summer. And, as every teacher, student, and parent knows, the new year really begins when the kids go back to school in August or September. That's a time for new clothes, new books, new resolutions to study hard and do well. But whatever our feelings may be about the proper time for new beginnings, January 1st is what the calendar says.
New Year's Eve, the last night of the old year, is a time for parties and drinking--often too much drinking. It is customary to stay up until midnight "to see the New Year in." At the moment of 12:00 horns, whistles, and other noisemakers are sounded and people kiss their spouses, sweethearts, or friends. John and I used to do this when we were younger, but for the last few years, we have gone to bed at our usual time of 10:00 and sometimes been awakened by horns and whistles at midnight, or sometimes slept completely through the noisemaking.
On New Year's Day the tradition is to make New Year's resolutions. People resolve to do whatever they haven't done during the last year or need to do during the coming one. Those who have overindulged in drinking the night before may resolve never to do it again, although unfortunately these good resolutions seldom last a full year.
As we approach the holiday season this year, and share our rituals with family and friends, may we remember our heritage, count our blessings, and celebrate our traditions in a spirit of joy and goodwill to all people everywhere.
