¿Feliz Navidad o Feliz Purisima?

Christmas in the States is big, really big. Everyone who´s celebrating has a tree in their house, lights on said tree and on said house. Lights in their front yard. Really, the list goes on. If you ask me, it is amazing. I love Christmas!

Here in Nicaragua, it´s a little different. Some people have trees in their homes. And, they do have lights on their trees. But, their houses don´t have lights, their stores aren´t full of lights and they aren´t nearly as Santa Clause crazy as we are. In fact, if you ask a typical 8 year old who Santa Clause is they´ll likely respond, ¨he gives gifts at Christmas and wears a big red suit but, he is not real.¨ And if you ask if they ever believed he was real, their answer will definitely be, ¨NO.¨

I understand. Christmas is expensive. In the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, Christmas is just not practical. So of course you would teach your kids that it is a time of giving, even a time to put up a tree in your living room and decorate it but, you wouldn´t teach them that Santa Clause was a jolly old man who reliably gave gifts every December 25^th.

Don´t worry though, Nicaragua has plenty of other fun things to do during December, mainly Purísima. On the 8^th day of December everyone celebrates the Virgin Mary´s Immaculate Conception of Jesus Christ. Celebrating Purisima though is not limited to just the 8^th. Everyone (at least where I live in Jinotega) celebrates daily for 10 days before the 8^th. Every afternoon mass is held in front of a Virgin Mary. At the end we all yell, ¨Virgen Maria SI, Virgen Maria SI . . . ¨ And, they give out oranges with bags of candy. This doesn´t happen only in the cathedrals. In the health center I work in we have mass in the courtyard. My landlady holds a service in her house. Purisima is bigger than Christmas in Nicaragua. I´m into it.