Patron Festivals Santo Domingo de Guzman 2008

August 7, 2008

Me acting goofy celebrating the end of the patron festivals with Mauricio and Rosa my neighbors

oh wait no... that was this pic, haha

No more complaining about the lack of updates on the blog, I’ve been busy haha. Naaa, really though, the patron festivals of the nation, the Divine Savior, as well as of my canton, Saint Dominic of Guzman are going on until the 8^th so, I haven’t been able to leave much… well…. At all. This Saturday I am planning on being online a while to get some work done. There are lots of nifty little things to describe though, and TONS of pictures so, here goes.

This fell on top of Mauricio from the roof while he was cutting coconuts

Mauricio chillin in Don Rauls house

Starting before the festivals, I got to take some good pictures of our nurses in action. We have a guy who got partly run over by a bus, and can’t afford to get to any of the medical places, and the fact that we are much, much cheaper helps too :) He has one leg that was pretty messed up, but they’ve been keeping up with him and he’s about a month out from being healed up nicely.

Santo Domingo chillin in Don Raul and Amalias house during the festivals

Margarita posing for Santo Domingo

Isabel (left) neighbor and Milagro Don Raul's youngest on the right holding the twins for a while

Next, I have this funny little video of William, one of the little twins next door. Both of the twins love to dance whenever there is music of any kind of beat, now he’s started the leg swing (they are both camera shy though, whenever I bring out the camera they stop and stare). I'll post the video soon because I think I forgot it to put it on the memory.

A drunk guy that I found passed out in my hammock one night

Finally, before getting to the fun stuff, I got my supplies to build my newly designed worm box (haha). It’s based on a model I saw up in the mountains, but downsized to make it manageable. My goal was to design a general worm box, with exact amounts of all ingredients, to present to the communities with a fixed price if the ADESCOS were interested. Hopefully there will be lots of interest in the municipality and we can all go in together to bring the supplies here. It would be a really good and cheap way to get fertilizer (both from the soil and the worm pee that the design should collect, thank you John Waggoner Chalatenango). With our diversification ideas here to vegetables, this would be ideal….we’ll see how it goes.

Ok, so patron festivals. So like I said, this week the nation is all on vacation celebrating the Divine Savior (well, that’s supposed to be the point at least :). At the same time, we are in festival here in La Comunidad celebrating the patron of the community, Saint Dominic of Guzman (founder of the Dominican Friars). Don Raul and Dona Amalia are running the thing this year from their house, so it’s pretty easy for me to record all the happenings. It started on the 29^th with the beginning of the novena in our little church. Basically, it’s an hour long prayer session every evening for nine days.

One of the novenas

Mauricio/Steven Seagal attacking me
The ladies making tamales at Don Rauls house which was the base of operations of this festival and will be next year as well
Laura, Presidente of COSALCO, stirring the tamale batter over the open fire

Aug. 2, there was a soccer tournament in the morning, then a parade of young people in masks and stuff with a band from the high school, fireworks, etc to the communal where there was a dance put on by the young people.

Decorating two pickups to carry the candidates for Ms. Comunidad

Aug. 3 was the horse races where there are like 10 or 12 competitors of all ages on horses racing down the road to snag a ring that’s hanging from a line strung across the street. For each one that a rider snags, there is a girl to present a gift to the rider. It actually had a really good turnout. Coca-Cola came out and did the speakerphone deal and kept things pretty lively so that was pretty cool. Apparently, Aaron, the previous volunteer, made a good impression so they were pretty chummy with me, thanks there guy.

He didnt get the ring

The riders waiting their turns to pass by in the street in from of DRs house

A guy on horseback helping hang more rings

After the “carreras de cinta”, we had dug a meter deep hole in front of my house to bury an 8 meter (27 ft?) pole that used to be a tree. What they do is lube up the pole with a lard kind of thing and then peg a bunch of money on top and then watch to see how the people figure out how to get it. I’ve heard of some pretty funny stories involving drunks trying to get the money, but nothing too crazy this time. I participated in a team that tried to get it, but we didn’t quite make it. Eventually a group of young guys made it to the top, pretty impressive after 6 or 7 falls…..from over 20 ft, haha.

The avocado tree after it was cut down and stripped, about 8 meters

A very dark picture of it buried in the hole we dug in front my house
The kids reaching the top, there were six people in the tower I think.

The winners afterwards.

Aug. 4 was the day that Don Raul and Dona Amalia had set aside for the kids. They had two guys from the community dress up and do the clown routine for a while and then they did the piñata thing for a while. There was even a SpongeBob one! It was pretty crazy, one time, they had an older kid swinging, and he grabbed the thing when it came close and ripped it down….and while thinking he was cool, he was tackled by no less than 20 little kids wanting candy before he got the handkerchief off his head. Here is the aftermath on video to prove it, haha:

Our clowns....nice pants

I think thats a Barney pinata.

Aug. 5 was the first day of entries into the “butlers’” house. The butlers are the people that are in charge of organizing the patron festivals any given year. Whereas they foot a rather large bill, the culture has built in the “entrada,” or entry, system, where families sign up for a period of three days to bring donations to the butlers to help out with resources. So, every half hour pretty much, someone is leaving with the band searching out the donor’s house, and then leading them to the main house playing away, accompanied by someone shooting off fireworks (guess who volunteered for that part) to let people know we are coming. Pretty nifty. They are also accompanied by a group called the “viejos” who are dressed up by what seemed to be the most evil spirited….spirits… that the Salvadoran culture has to offer. In masks, they dance, avoiding someone that wears a bull disguise, and then they interact with the audience joking around about who they are going to carry off with them when nighttime comes. It’s pretty funny. I want to ask more about where it all comes from though, and why it’s done during the patron festivals. I became the butt of some of those jokes they made, they have kindly nicknamed me ‘gringito’ during their acts….primarily because it rhymes with their other phrases that end it ‘-ito-‘. Anyways, after the families enter and donate whatever…everything from firewood, to coconuts, to ducks/chickens, to dollar bills….the butlers serve them juices and sweet breads while they watch the viejos. If they around for lunch or dinner, they also serve them that. My favorite guy out of them all is the flute player…he is a little old guy who I think lives in another beautiful world of fiddles and small people.

The old flute guy in the middle was my favorite of the festival

One of the offerings that one of the entradas brought

Aug. 6 is another day of entradas, as well as the crowning of the Queen of the Patron Festivals in this case. It’s kind of like a Ms. Comunidad deal, with the exception that the queen is based on how much the girl raised to support the festivals (done by selling votes for 5 cents each). I think the winning girl sold like 2,540 or something. Impressive. That evening we shot off more fireworks than usual because it was the last of the novenas in the church. Thursday, Aug. 7 would be a prayer parade starting towards the beginning of the canton and ending in the church, and the next day would be the closing Mass.

Aug. 7…today there were some entradas, including those from some other cantons that I have worked with, so it was good to see those people. During the day they fixed up the truck that was going to carry Santo Domingo, in the evening there was the procession through the canton at night reflecting on the life of Santo Domingo and how it can inspire the betterment of the person. After the prayer time in the little church it was to the fireworks, which unfortunately, because of my participation in setting them off and organizing transport from my house, in which they were all stored, I only got to take a few pics. So, sorry about that, but apparently people enjoyed it. It involved 5 of us setting off about 200 super steroided bottle rockets tied to bamboo shoots as fast as we could as one of Raul’s sons set off 16 mortars as fast as he could. They ended with the firework laden bulls that chased people around as they shoot fireworks from its back. After I lit the last guy I ran to the church to take a quick video, interesting stuff.

Mauricio with the burning wood to light fireworks
Talk about a light in the darkness
The people watching the unveiling of Santo Domingo on top of the truck.

The people in charge of fireworks

Aug. 8^th, today we got up early to move chairs that Don Raul had rented for the week to the church and prepare it for the Mass ending the patron festivals. We did that for a while and then hurriedly got ready. They left me in charge of the fireworks during the important parts of the Mass, as is custom here, and then afterwards me and Mauricio (neighbor) and a few others did a nice, loud rocket launching. It was all good. We spent the rest of the day returning things and I picked up some stuff from the market to make Chicken Marsala Sunday for my counterpart, Don Mauricio, Isabel and Consuelo, my health promoter ladies, and Mario, the ADESCO treasurer (I also got extra for the neighbors too). I bought a little extra on some other things too to help celebrate the end of the festivals tomorrow for Don Raul and the fam because they are all (as I am now) strapped for cash due to them being in charge of this festival and some personal things earlier in the year. The weekend will be entertaining… then it’s back to work this week.

The people getting ready for the closing Mass

The end of the Mass.
The upcoming week the plan is to take the rest of the people who haven’t gone for their full eye exams on Monday to the capital, and then shoot by San Vicente to give a quick class on wormboxes, and then to head to the mountains in the north for a Peace Corps security conference. I don’t really want to go due to monetary reasons, but it seems the appropriate things to do, haha.

Apparently, the internet went down again in the main town Tuesday, and tomorrow, Saturday, I am supposed to be online for the first time in a week and half, working all day long on some mails I need to get done. I hope it comes up…if not, it will be til mid next week before I get on.

Has anyone seen the new Xfiles movie?

The early church fathers used to talk of the worthiness of reading the apocryphal gospels and with the finding of a piece of gold in the mud.

“Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.

And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive.

And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this straight and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is might to save.

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.”

2 Nephi 31:17-20

Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith

August 11, 2008

OK, so there is still no internet. From what they have told me someone stole all the equipment off of the tower, or way station or something for our zone. They said it affected the cell phones for one of the companies here as well. Also, people have been stealing all the sewer drain lids apparently here in town for the metal, haha. They also used to have payphones here in town, but people cut the lines all up for the copper so none of those work anymore either.

In other wonderful news, I had a series of unexpected firsts here in my canton the past few days. The day after the Mass ending the patron festivals here in La Comunidad, Rudy (son-in-law of Don Raul), Francisco (son of DR), and Juan (youngest son of DR), and I went to La Bruja (the witch), a little lagoon like deal about an hour’s walk down the ridge. We hung out there for a while, and Rudy and I tried to give some lessons on swimming, and then we headed back up to the canton. They asked me on the way back if I wanted to go a different route to the main street instead of along the paths, and I said ok, so we switched ridges and starting climbing up the main street of the canton. We stopped by DR’s dad’s house and chatted with them, and then one of the ladies I work with here appeared in the street yelling for us to come help bring someone who was sick from the orange grove to the street. On walking down I ran into Isabel, my health promoter, scurrying around the grove in a hissy. I thought someone had called her to help, but apparently we arrived the same time as her to the place where her father had collapsed while planting oranges trees. We watched as she tried to give him CPR (very sad) and then she asked me to check his vitals (of which there were none), so me and another farmer who was there hauled him up the hill (where I almost collapsed from the weight of the guy), where a truck that I had called was arriving. We tried to get some doctor on the way to SPN but no one was there, so we booked it to the hospital where they confirmed the death.

The corn at the end of the ridge of La Comunidad
Us walking on a ridge parallel to La Comunidad, toward the river below

Isabel is taking it really hard. In her house it was her mom and dad, her, and her 5 year old son. She feels really alone now that it’s just her mother of poor health and her and her son….and the farm. I am glad that the medical clinic has taken off a little bit, because it will help her with the costs of everything.

Rudy (left), a random guy, Don Raul, and a drunk guy who loves Cuba watching over the hole being dug

I think the phrase I heard was, "even though there's a hole, there's hope", they always leave a cross over the hole in some form or fashion even if its awaiting the person. I thought that was cool.
The procession down main street toward the cementery.

Arriving.

The people singing a psalm before the lowering.

The beginning.

The actual process of everything when we actually got to the hospital was interesting to see. The actual hospital (in zacate, about 50 mins from SPN) was destroyed in the earthquakes, so they are operating out of something less sufficient. Then since the guy was already dead, they wouldn’t admit him into the actual emergency room, but we had to wait until the “Legal Medicine” people got there to certify the death, which was three hours later. The entire time the poor dead guy was sitting in the passenger seat of the truck we came in….luckily I got a different ride back :). So after that, they had already arranged for the casket and we got all the things for the vela that night upon returning at 1:30 in the morning. It was actually pretty surprising. We got back to the town and Don Raul and Mauricio were waiting in the street, and there were about 40 people waiting in the house to pray and view the body etc. They had the actual prayer service at about 3am, we dug the hole at 7am, and after to the parish church from our canton (we filled three buses and 4 pickups) and at Mass at 330pm that day, we buried Isabel’s dad. Normally there is an extra day in the process, but her half-brother wasn’t going to be able to be there on Monday so we did it all Sunday. Now they will start the novena, praying for nine days for the soul of the deceased brother.

The final first, was a confrontation that happened outside of my house between the drunk 18 year old from across the street, and a 50 year old guy that lives below him on the ridge. Apparently there was argument between the kid and his mom, and they called the older guy to help out and the kid flipped on him with a scythe in the street. So the older guy grabbed rocks and was throwing it at him, and of course there was yelling involved, and after the kid took a hard swipe at the older guy (he had fallen trying to pick up more rocks) on the ground with the scythe (only missing him because he was drunk), after which the guy grabbed the scythe, and then Don Raul arrived with his machete and helped take the scythe away from the kid and calm everyone. Don Raul had heard the screams from the wives down the road, and that’s why he had come. I just happened to be passing by for this one too. Craziness in La Comunidad.

Today we took another 5 people to FUDEM, the eye NGO people in the capital. It was very frustrating for me because I finally got a van to come to take the people, and we invited 28 or so, the last of the group of 46, and only 5 showed up. The mayor’s office was going to pay the diesel for the trip, but once I saw how many showed up (compared to the percentage that showed up the other times it is very little), it didn’t seem right for the mayor’s office to spend that amount of money on 5 people. However, the van made an extra trip to come back here from the capital, so I will have to reimburse him 3 gallons of diesel. I took the risk by asking him to come banking on the fact that at least half the people invited would come, the risk being that if little showed up and I would have to reimburse his trip. Sometimes we win playing the percentages and sometimes we lose. I didn’t mention that part to the mayor’s office because it wasn’t their fault. But we are still on the good side of the van people now, so hopefully it will work out for us in the future.

I will be traveling a bit this week, so hopefully I will find somewhere with internet. They said it could be up to two months without internet, or cellular service, here for that company (the only one that serves internet here) due to the extreme extent to which the antenna and substation was robbed. Blast. Looks like I’ll be going in to San Sal a bit more this month.

Take it away old historical people:

“Weep for the unbelievers; weep for those who differ in nowise from them, those who depart hence without the illumination, without the seal! They indeed deserve our wailing, they deserve our groans; they are outside the Palace, with the culprits, with the condemned: for, ‘Verily I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven’ (Jn. 3:5). Mourn for those who have died in wealth and did not from their wealth think of any solace for their soul, who had power to wash away their sins and would not….Let us weep for these; let us assist them according to our power; let us think of some assistance for them, small though it be, yet still let us assist them. How and in what way? By praying and entreating others to make prayers for them, by continually giving to the poor on their behalf…Not in vain did the Apostles order that remembrance should be made of the dead in the dreadful Mysteries. They know that great gain results to them, great benefit; for when the whole people stands with uplifted hands, a priestly assembly, and that awful Sacrifice lies displayed, how shall we not prevail with God by our entreaties for them. And this we do for those who have departed in faith.”

St. John Chrysostom, 400 AD

Homilies on Philippians 3:4

“In the books of the Maccabees we read of sacrifice offered for the dead. Even if it were nowhere at all read in the Old Scriptures, not small is the authority, which in this usage is clear, of the whole Church, namely, that in the prayers of the priest which are offered to the Lord God at His altar, the commendation of the dead has also its place.”

St. Augustine, 410 AD

On Care to be Had For the Dead, Chap 1:3