Not Quite Silent Night

Christmas in Paraguay passed much differently than any I’ve experienced before. Since the holiday takes place in the middle of summer and vacations, the fiesta turned out to be like a strange mix between the Fourth of July, Mardi Gras, and perhaps a little Christmas, too.

Our festivities began on Monday, Christmas Eve. We worked only half a day on the school construction, and then took off the rest of the afternoon to celebrate our Savior’s birth. Eric, Joel, and I took a bus to Mercado Cuatro, a shopping bonanza of clothing, artisan, electronic, jewelry, juice, and Paraguayan shops. The place was crowded and still open even at four in the afternoon on Christmas Eve; our bus line, too, would go until its normally-scheduled final 8 o’clock round. The area was crowded, as usual, but the celebrations for Christmas seemed to already have begun. Corner eateries with grilled sausages and roasted chickens and boiled mandioca and fresh juice and cold beer were full of merry revelers, drinking and eating to celebrate the human birth of God. Strangely enough, people weren’t rushing about buying gifts. Paraguayans give their gifts on January 6th, the day that tradition celebrates the arrival of the three wise men to the Nativity scene, with perhaps a more biblical foundation for gift-giving than the Santa Clause myth in North American countries.

Anyways, being North Americans and feeling like we had to buy something in the rush and bustle of Christmas Eve, we picked up some gifts for family and friends at home then went back to Lambare. Early evening, Eric and I had the chance to visit another church for their Christmas Eve service. Since Christmas Eve is usually celebrated with so much family and church services are usually so poorly attended on La Noche Buena, the Apostolic Church in Lambare gave up on Christmas Eve services a few years back. Thankfully, we found another church with a full service and thus remembered the Lord’s birth in grand liturgical style.

The later evening we passed with Ben, Vivi, and Joel at their place. We enjoyed a few rounds of cards, then had a full 10:30 pm meal of stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes, bean salad, chipa guazu, tomato-cucumber salad, and plenty of soda. Ben even made a celebratory cheesecake with cream cheese brought down straight from the U.S.. In the end, it was a perfect mix between the hot Christmas dinners of cold North America and the cool Navidad suppers of hot South America.

Around 11:45 the Paraguayans really started to celebrate Christmas. Fireworks started going off all around us, breaking up the night with the loud bangs of firecrackers and screaming whistles of bottle rockets. The neighborhood sounded off like a battle zone, with the noises of sharp fighting nearby and more muffled conflict in the distance. The blasts were loudest at midnight, when it seemed as if every Paraguayan household was suddenly setting off its entire arsenal of gunpowder in a moving salute to Jesus’ birth. The Nativity was celebrated with much noise and great joy, a fantastic show of Paraguayan social and religious unity in Christmas tradition.

After enjoying a bottle of traditional Paraguayan champagne-like cider, we all headed very-tired to bed at around 2:00 in the morning. It was the latest, and certainly most lively, Christmas I’ve ever enjoyed. Although many Paraguayans spend the holiday in excessive revelry, I think I learned a new colorful way to celebrate Christmas and found something good to hold on to for a lifetime.