This post is coming a little late, as Christmas in Cali sees to actually start mid to late November. I'm not kidding. By the flirt week on December the holiday decoration section in Exito has turned into a toy and gift section as any Caleño clearly already has their decorations up by then. But there's good reason for this. In Cali, as well as the rest of the country, Christmas is a month long celebration, almost. The season usually kicks off December 8th with celebration of the Immaculate Conception, the conception of Mary, not the conception of Jesus as many people quickly assume; do the math: December 8th to December 24th? This isn't some creepy vampire-human pregnancy. I can't believe I just made a Twilight reference (actually, I kinda can); if you don't get it just smile and read on. Anyway, on the night of the 7th people celebrate the conception of Mary by lighting candles to guide her into their homes, also known as Día de las Velitas, Day of the Little Candles. Bolivar invites the school community to celebrate the Friday before, which is where I go most of my velitas fix. It was amazing to see so many families, faculty and staff there celebrating with candles, food, music and of course Santa. Don't tell the kiddos, but it was actually Allain the physics teacher, not Santa.
Everywhere you go in Cali is decorated for Christmas, and there is an especially huge lights display in the north in the Rio Cali, the Alhumbrada. The display itself is not specific to Christmas, the theme this year in fact was "Myths & Legends" and on the night of the 7th friends and I went to view the beautiful display after some cookie decorating and ornament making.
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| La Muneca |
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| A favorite of my red-headed-mohawk-sporting-biology-teaching science neighbor friend Stetson. |
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| Cutie Patootie |
Although it was rainy and the ground was muddy (poor Lauren was in sandals!) and there were HUGE crowds, it was all together a pretty cool view and experience. Can't wait to see next year's display!
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