Christmas in an Andean community
As the year draws to an end, the weather in the area finally improves. It gets just a little bit warmer, birds sing with increasing stridency and the fields are green thanks to the rain that falls like a blessing, watering the semi-arid area. I’m in a small community in Northern Potosí, Bolivia as its residents prepare for the year-end activities.
By Wilson Cabrera, Communicator, World Vision Bolivia
In some orchards seedlings break through the surface of the earth as farmers finish planting their crops. The seedlings’ presence tells children that it is time for final exams and the delivery of their last assignments as many start thinking about what they will do during the holidays. Many will take the opportunity to travel, but there are always some people who remain in the community.
Christmas is a time for traditions passed down from generation to generation. At 95 years old, Mr. Vicente Fabrica is the oldest person in the community. Vicente slowly explains the Christmas traditions in Quechua, the local language. "During Christmas time, we create cows, sheep and bulls of clay for the baby Jesus and his manger. We also eat quispina (kneaded wheat flour, cooked in water and filled with dried meat) with tea. Families don’t cook quispina very often anymore, only sometimes. Nowadays they prepare buñuelos (flour mixed with butter, sugar and water, and fried in hot oil), but I like quispina more. Before, there were no gifts, but now everyone wants just that."
Although some traditions have changed, others still remain. Eight year old Johnny and his little friends show us the small animals they create each Christmas. Like Mr Fabrica they make small versions of corrals for sheep, donkeys and bulls using clay, small stones and animal waste. “We form the small animals that are inside the corrals with clay. My dad does nice animals, but I make them look fat,” Johnny smiles cheekily at us, proudly showing off the small corral that they have built with little stones. These creations are later added to the familiar mangers where the birth of Jesus is celebrated.
Mr. Teófilo, another neighbour in the community, explains that Christmas is a holiday not just for the village’s human inhabitants, but also for the animals. “Everyone is happy about the birth of little Jesus; that's why in the houses we make the corrals and animals. We also put wool of several colours to animals’ ears to show they are happy too. In this community we do not give ourselves gifts, but we do cook special meals like ‘buñuelos’ which are had with ‘api’ (a hot beverage made with white and red corn) and we prepare chicken or lamb to eat.”
The community has mixed emotions regarding the holiday - while some celebrate and visit relations, others use the time to earn some much needed extra money. The departures reflect a sad wider trend in Bolivia as each year more children and adults leave the community for the main cities in the heart of the country. “My brother and I will travel to Cochabamba. We will go to work to raise money to study next year. We will dance in the street," nine year old Efrain plots as he polishes off a buñuelo.
Like Efrain’s family, there are many others who see the holiday as an opportunity to travel to distant cities, generally with a good mix of curiosity and fear. Mr Teófilo says, "We go to the cities because at Christmas there is more economical movement, people go shopping and buy everything. We do not ask for alms, which would be ugly. I will work in any job I can find and my children will sing carols or local music, using little charangos (a local instrument that looks like a small guitar) and people will give them coins. That is the way we always do.”
Whether they are staying in the village with their clay animals and colourful wool, or singing and dancing in the street, one thing can be said for the people of Potosí – they are resourceful, hard working, and enjoying Christmas in their own unique way.