Bad Dream or Bad Timing?: A Christmas Carol Nightmare

It´s 3:30am. I´ve been asleep for hours now. In my head I hear a faint rhythm, a distant beat thumpedy-thumping its way into my dreams. It is gradually getting louder, getting...closer? Am I dreaming? I am not sure. I feel it in my stomach now. And screaming? What is going on? Is there some sort of political uprising taking place? Or perhaps a tidal wave is heading our way to cover the town and drag us all out to sea? I pull my thin sheet tight against my chin and brace myself for imminent death. “Wake up Joan!” I try to snap out of it, though I find I already am awake. The rhythmic beats are real, actual little drummer boys drumming in the streets, and the people I heard were not so much screaming but CHANTING. I check my clock, still not fully believing that I am awake – 3:31am, confirmed. What on earth are these crazy people doing at this hour? Is this some kind of protest? Please shut up and go away! I roll my eyes and heave a deep, frustrated sigh. These noisy Dominicans, it never ends. I surrender my sleep, get out of bed and go to the bathroom.

It turns out I had discovered a Christmas tradition – a Dominican version of Christmas Caroling. Different church groups will go around throughout the month of December singing, drumming, and playing instruments in the middle of the night. Around the 3-4 o´clock hour are the groups wanting money. They will sing outside your house until you pay them to go away. Then there are the groups that just do it for fun. These groups usually come out at around 6 o´clock, early enough to wake you up but late enough so that you can´t fall back asleep afterwards. Luckily, there hasn´t been more than one group per night. To my dismay, I discovered that the youth group I´ve been meeting with is one of the culprits. When they asked me if I wanted to join them I replied (something like), “Are you kidding me? I´ll be lying in bed with my earplugs in.” I was clear that this was very annoying, but they assured me that this is a fun tradition practiced throughout the country. Yeah, real fun, thanks. Just call me Ms. Scrooge.

So that´s my little Christmas story/cultural tidbit for this holiday season. Other than that, the holiday celebrations here are much more subdued than I´d expected, given that there are so many devout Catholics and Christians living here. Many of the different neighborhoods are decorated, though it is not like what you and I are used to. Because so many people are living in poverty, they make decorations with whatever they can find. Different colored plastic bags are tied around wire and arranged into different shapes and patterns. They do quite a lot with this, I give them an A plus on creativity. Take a look (notice the big manger on the right side of the road):

The standard juicebox ornaments hanging from trees is actually maintained year-round: Also, they put a lot of work into their nativity scenes. They weave palm leaves and take siding off of the houses to make the manger, then collect whatever they can to represent those famous figures, such as Ken dolls, various kid toys, and those big deer lawn ornaments woven together from straw (scenes are rarely to scale). Here we have a nativity scene with baby Jesus in a bathtub, Mary and Joseph, as well as the fairy horse and of course the dinosaur (that was in the Bible, right?). Its too cute, really: In general, Christmas is celebrated with a few dinners – with family, friends, and any group you are associated with. There is not much gift-giving, but I hear there will be a lot of dancing (no surprise there!). It should be pretty low-key. I´ll leave you with this shot of me and Jose Miguel, I´m having a ton of fun with him lately:

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, I miss you all terribly! Do me a favor and eat lots of pie on my behalf, thanks!
Love, Joan