Some of you may have noticed a slight undertone of homesickness creeping into my recent posts, which doubtless has a lot to do with the unstoppable advancing of Christmas into our lives. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. It's just that practically all of the elements of Christmas that I love are missing from my life right now. My loved ones are far away, the usual build up and pre-Christmas excitement (let's face it, the best part of the whole shenanigans) is lacking from this part of the world, and most importantly it's far too warm to be Christmas at all.
So what is Christmas like in Ecuador, where they may not have the snow but they sure enough have the catholic following to make it into a big occasion? Well one thing is for sure - there's not the frenzy surrounding it that there is in England. Here in Loja the local independence celebrations saw a much bigger buildup, which is understandable of course, and although charming trees and decorations have been put up in the square, market, and in the houses, there's certainly not the same mad this-year's-has-to-be-the-best-ever-or-else feeling which has poisoned English Christmas preparations over the years.
I suppose a lot of it has to do with the fact that Christmas in the UK is the one shining beacon on the horizon during the descent into another demoralising winter, and families feel under pressure to produce a day which lives up to the endless weeks of excitement and presents which keep their little dears happy through the cold winter months. For this reason alone Christmas takes on a huge importance for a lot of people. Here, Christmas falls during the most agreeable weather of the year, and therefore it won't have too big a knock-on effect on people's lives whether it's a good Christmas or not.
A strange thing to observe is that the Christmas paraphernalia which does exist is very much orientated towards the image of Christmas depicted in 'It's A Wonderful Life' or that bloody coca-cola advert. If you were to seek out a Christmas card (I struggled with this - apparently South Americans don't send cards and it's a 'very European' thing) or some Christmas wrapping, you would almost certainly find it with either rosy-cheeked carol singers or Santa Claus dancing in the snow with his reindeers. Even the Christmas tree, with its roots in Nordic and German celebrations, seems rather out of place here.
In my classes I have been spending some time proudly comparing Christmas traditions in England with those in Ecuador. This has illustrated to me again the slightly depressing similarities between the two. In Ecuador the Christmas adverts start way too early, the tree is up in November, they sing carols (same ones as us but with a Spanish translation) in the run-up, and they even eat a turkey dinner, albeit on the 24th. They'd probably have Santa coming down the chimney if most of the houses didn't have tin roofs and it wasn't far too warm for a fireplace.
So to a certain extent Christmas is cancelled this year in my life. No need to feel sorry for me though, as myself, some of the teachers and our new Colombian compadres will be making the most of the time off and travelling around Ecuador for 10 days. It is definitely disappointing that I am in effect running away from Christmas, but there are definitely worse places that I could be running to. On the plus side I haven't heard Mariah Carey, Wham, Band Aid or any of that crap yet, and most likely won't. So there's a positive thought to end on if ever there was one.
(This post was originally written on 9th December but due to technical issues I'm posting it again with pictures)
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