Santa Claus, the smell of cinnamon and cookies, a big ham, lots of family, twinkling lights of all colors. This is what comes to mind when I think of the winter season and Christmas. At least the images. To me, the holidays, essentially, after you peel away layers of various religions, really, all it is, is tradition and a great excuse to be with beloved family and friends.
How do our neighbors across the border celebrate this wonderful time of the year, what are their traditions? It's no surprise that many people will probably be separated this year from their families, locked away on opposite side of the borders. In light of the holidays being spent with the ones nearest and dearest to us, this itself is a travesty to the holiday.
In Mexico, religion marks the most important aspect of the Christmas holiday, and is taken very seriously. In preparation of Christmas eve, they celebrate the Posadas. These Posadas occur nine days before the 24th of December which is referred to as the "Holy Night" like said Christmas carol.
The Posadas re-enact the events leading up to Christ's birth. this includes Mary and Joseph looking for lodging , the nativity scene, three wise men ect. Almost every home has their own nativity scene in honor of this holiday.
Among other Christmas celebrations in Mexico is the traditional breaking of the pinata for children. although the pinata was invented and became popular in Italy it has become a Mexican tradition for children. The pinata is usually filled with peanuts, oranges, tangerines and sugar canes.
Much like our apple cider, Mexican adult also drinks a hot punch made from seasonal fruit, seasoned with cinnamon and usually with a shot of liqueur added to it. This seasonal beverage is called ponche con piquete.
Unlike most American families, who have long forgotten the religious implications of the holidays they celebrate, Mexican families typically don't open any presents on Christmas day. seeing as how that day represents the day of the birth of their Saviour, no gifts are opened because the day remains holy as a celebration solely to their Lord.
Pot-taaaay-toe, pot-tot-toe, it's all different and all the same. We seem to celebrate our holidays with the same things in mind, however the traditions vary a bit. The important thing to remember this holiday season, is that whether you say "Merry Christmas" or Feliz Navidad" or "Happy Chanukah" try to see that we are all part of the same race, not so different after all.
For more Mexican traditions visit these links!
here
and here!
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9 comments:
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Nice work on the Halloween costume sweetheart. You are so cool.
Move to mexico wetback apologist. They are draining the economy and there own country doesn't want them just as we dont. Anyone crossing the border illegally should be shot into the head. And liberals who support them should be sent to a mexican prison. Have there government pay for the waste of flesh that we pair for everyday.
I hate to even bring this up, but you are proof that a person can be intelligent but ignorant at the same time. My initial reaction to your costume was to write something nasty and vile, but that would be no better than the insensitive attire you chose to wear.
Know this: I lost 11 friends that day and barely made it out alive myself. The terror I felt that day was nothing compared to the sorrow of losing so many people I cared about. Since I am a construction worker, I came back the next day to help in the futile recovery effort. I spent 4 straight days there, came home, stripped off my clothes in the garage, showered went to bed and awoke to the stench of rotting flesh. I guess in the confusion of those first few days I stepped into the remains of someone and their flesh was in the soles of my work boots. It was also on the floor mat of my car as well as the gas and brake pedals. Try cleaning that out of your car while you are both crying and dry heaving at the same time.
I understand that you weren't in NYC when it happened, because if you were, you would never have worn that costume. I also understand that people outside of the NYC area probably got over the shock of what happened much quicker than those of us who live here. You see, not a day went by from September to May of 2002 without being reminded of 9/11 because of all of the funeral services that were going on every day. Remains were being found up until 3 years after the event and that always lead to bag pipes and more mourning. Those were the lucky families. They got closure. Out of the 11 people I knew, 4 have not yet been identified and their families have no place to go to to lay flowers and say a prayer.
Hopefully, you will never experience the horror that myself and many others have witnessed. And if you do, hopefully people will not show the same lack of respect that you did.
You can never take away YOUR insensitive choice, but maybe you can do something to counterbalance it someday.
Please take these words to heart.
nice thing about blogs, you can delete all the shitty comments.
I was gonna dress as a race car driver with a steering wheel around my neck but thought better against it.
but you're getting a lot of publicity, take advantage of it.
Heh. I, also, was planning on criticizing your choice of costume, but after reading some of the other things people wrote ... quite frankly, you don't seem so bad any more. If I have to chose between an irreverent goof with some silly ideas, and a bunch of vitriol-filled scumbags who get their rocks off by threatening women, I'll stick with the former any day.
Oh, and as for the "conspiracy" thing, I'd suggest you plug "debunking 9/11" into Google. I don't particularly care what you believe and I don't plan on coming back to this blog, but, for your own good, you should probably look at some real data instead of the usual spurious conspiracy claims.
Cheers.
I was in New York City on September 11, 2001. I saw the smoke, the grief, the horrified people. I smelled the burning bodies later that night as I walked downtown to stay at a coworkers house since there was no way to get back to my apartment in New Jersey. It is my hope that you realize that what you did was wrong. I hope that you find a place of compassion enough to post an apology, although many of these comments on your blog are so sick they don't deserve a response.
I am shocked and disgusted by halloween costumes you and your boyfriend wore. I am emailing and calling Tempe Focus and the Dean of the Journalism Department at ASU. If they can suspend cheerleaders for a pic in their undies then should expel and fail you for the semester. Karma is a bitch. May you get hit by a bus.
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