Argentine Eyes

Navidad (chapter 5)

December is somewhat of an interesting time in latin america. If you are one of those that likes to see the Christmas Spirit manifested through carols, plastic santas, carols, shiny new items in stores, nativities on every street front.....then Christmas in latin America is definitely not for you. However, if you are one that enjoys seeing the Christmas Spirit manifested in a simple but powerful manner, then I would highly recommend that you plan to be in Buenos Aires for your next Christmas holiday.

As we all know, in the US and Canada, stores begin receiving their merchandise in October in order to milk every dollar possible from consumers during the holiday season.  Which was why it was a tremendous shock to me that stores in Buenos Aires actually don't receive their special holiday merchandise until beginning to mid december! In North America, that would considered a doomed marketing strategy! And even the new items put out just for the holiday season were really quite simple did have the pizzaz that the new merchandise has in the US.  I was truly in another world.

In Argentina, Christmas Eve is the actual day that families get together and have an asado (grill).  Families eat together and enjoy in each other's company. Then they countdown until midnight and at midnight, fireworks go off all over the city and probably the country. In Argentina, even children as young as 2 or 3 are taught how to hold sparklers safely away from their faces and the olders kids participate in lighting the fireworks and sending them into the sky.

At midnight a toast with champange is given and that is when the party really begins.  Music gets turned out and one's friends and family who had just finished their own celebration start showing up at your door. People begin dancing and moving their bodies in true latin american style. Parties don't end until at least to in the morning and I've been to ones that went until 5 or 6 am in the morning. All the asados, drinking, and partying results in the actual Christmas day being very quiet and low key and families used the 25th of Dec to run errands and clean the house.This whole practice of asados, fireworks,  champagne, and dancing through the nite also happens a few days later when Argentines ring in the New Year. 

December is also a transition time here in Argentina. The school year runs differently from the North American school year and goes from March until December. Mid december, January, and February are the holiday months where families go on holidays and places like the beaches of Mar de Plata and Punto de Este, Uruguay are filled with crowds of vacationers. January and February are actually the summer months in the southern hempisphere.

What I love about the people here is that when they go on a holiday, the take a REAL holiday. It is not like the 2 week holiday in North America where even then you keep your phone and laptop close to you so you are somewhat still working. Families and individuals here take holidays that are between 2 week to 2 months and the in the culture here, it is rude to message or disturb people too much. So it is well understood that if someone says they are on holiday, don't expect too much communication between them and you in their time off.

I felt a sense of relief that Navidad doesn't carry the level of pressure, stress, and obligation that it does in the North American culture. In the Argentina, gift giving is not a big part of the culture. In fact, gifts are only given to small children. Adults rarely give gifts to each other during the holiday season.

For me, this particular December would be chock full of strange and delightful experiences.  One of the new experiences that I had was that for the first time ever I would experience first hand, Rock & Vida. This is the free rock concert that the church throws in a public arena in Buenos Aires every year since 2005 to create awareness about the deadly affects of HIV and AIDS.  

I got to be a part of several campaigns that the church held leading up to the event where the members of the church would flood out onto the streets attempting to survey whoever they could on the knowledge of AIDS. Just a side note here that in Argentina, it is not a strange or offensive thing to see people on the street attempting to pass our flyers or flag you down and talk to you about some product or restaurant they are offering.