Cultural Essay: S. America
... along with it. I began to enjoy it, and as I learned more about God and the Bible I began participating with everybody else in the festivals and traditions of our church. One of the traditions is Lent. Eight weeks before the Easter Holiday, I fast, meaning I choose several things I want to stop doing in respect for the Lord, and not do these things for those forty days before Easter. Every year before Lent begins the schools all over South America put on a Carnival. Carnival, as it is called, is known basically as a last ‘chance’ to feast and celebrate before Lent begins. All of the schools including mine, spend months of time in preparation, getting ready for the festival. Beautiful floats and costumes are carefully crafted and decorated with flowers and bright paper to parade down streets through the cheering crowd. Most everyone in town turns out for Carnival, for the entertainment and good food. The food that most people eat during Carnival is colored and flavored popcorn, coconut milk, mangos, pineapples, and other fruit and sausages on a stick. This year is a very special Carnival year for me. I have been selected to be the lead dancer for my school. It is such an honorable privilege. I will dance down the street moving my feet to the beat of the drummer boys representing my school. After several days of Carnival, when everyone goes home and gets sick because of all the great food they have eaten, fasting begins. Carnival is not the only thing we celebrate though. We have Christmas and Labor day, just like the USA, but we have other holidays as well. In November we celebrate Los Finades. Los Finades is a holiday to remember our dead. We remember people who have passed on by making crafts such as hearts and crowns made of flowers, and bringing them to the graves of our deceased. This is not a time of grief, but a time of enlightenment and celebration. Here when someone dies, their death is celebrated. It might sound strange but death is rejoiced because people are going to a better place. This holiday is also known as the poor-man’s Christmas, because peddlers and vendors sell toys and food along the streets. The food that is most commonly eaten during this festival is Masamora Morada, a black gelatin like food that is eaten with bread. At home during the rest of the year when we are not celebrating something, I go to school, hang out with friends and listen to music, like any teen would. My mom still works for the church and my dad has become the president of a major textile industry downtown. Our family owns a nice house and we just bought our first car last month. Most everybody gets aroun...