A couple of folks have emailed to ask me about how I spent Xmas, Hannukah and New Years in Paraguay. So here goes. Hannukah was pretty quiet since PY is a rather Catholic country and I have to take it slow on bringing up/sharing the Jewish stuff with my community. Luckily (when related to Hannukah) fried food is extremely popular in PY and though I didn’t have any latkas this year, I got a good share of empanadas (hot pockets), tortillas (fried dough pancakes),and Paragauyan schnitzel. I am confident that sometime in the near future latkas will be a big hit here.
Christmas in Paraguay is quite different than Christmas in the states and one of the main reasons is because we’re in the opposite hemisphere. All the imagery of pine trees, hot cider, cinnoman/savory smells, sitting around the fireplace, and of course, dreaming of a white Christmas, doesn’t make much sense here in the 100+ degree weather. Christmas falls near the longest day of the year and markets the beginning of the harvest season for watermelon, melon, grapes, pineapple, squash and corn.
Most of the Christmas celebration takes place on the evening of the twenty-fourth, where families get together to wait for the doce, midnight. I watched my family gather together a gigantic bag of watermelon and squash for the pesebre, nativity scene, that they were going to build at their grandmother/grea tgrandmother’s house. I saw another one at a different family’s house: first they placed dried corn stalks against the wall, then a little platform with some grass and decoration and a little cradle with a baby Jesus doll and Mary and Joseph figurines. Around the base of the platform was the semi-circle of squash and melons. I tried to figure out what the fruits represented but wasn’t able to quite understand/get a straight answer. Will try again next year.
I expected families to start the cooking/food prep early in the morning (like Passover?) but most families started around four or five in the afternoon (“We have plenty of time!”) and spent the morning slowly, hanging out with the trickle of relatives arriving from other cities and towns. When the food prep did begin, my favorite part was making the clerico, Paraguayan Sangria/Fruit punch. We used chopped up apples, oranges, melon, banana, pineapple, grapes, red wine from a box, and pineapple soda. Yummm. Stick in the fridge and marinate until around 8pm when the wait for midnight begins! A bunch of Paraguayans asked me if people drink Sangria in the states for Christmas as well and they all thought it was pretty funny when I told them no because there is no fruit in season and it’s too cold!
Around 8pm I headed over to my neighbor’s house to wait for midnight. They had the radio going with Christmas music and call-ins and everyone was sitting in a circle enjoying the clerico. At nine we had a big dinner (schnitzel, rice, chipa guasu—corn quiche, and empanada) and then we just waited until 12am. As the clock hit midnight, everyone jumped up and began hugging and wishing one another a merry Christmas and then we each had a glass of champagne. The next day, we had a big lunch and then just rested. Another surprise: no presents!
New Years was very similar. One of my favorite moments from New Years was listening to a particular call-in on the radio. Paraguayan-diasporaniks were calling into my local radio station from all over the world (well mostly Spain where there is a large community). Every time that someone called in the broadcaster would ask “so where are you calling from,” and as the night got later, “so what part of Spain are you calling from?” Suddenly, I hear this woman correct the guy, “No, I’m from the states.” “What state?” And I just knew. New Jersey!
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