somewhere under the sky

अ फेव नोट्स

i tried typing the title "a few notes" and apparently it is automatically translating this to arabic (?). i hope my text appears in english for you.

i am in Saraguro, Ecuador again, working on my thesis (again, or as usual). it is the first time i am away from home for the holidays but while i miss my family, Christmas time in Saraguro is fascinating. they started celebrations last weekend and they continue intermittently until 7 january. rehearsals for the dances started months ago, and in fact, the patrons/financers of the celebration for next year are named this year. to explain would take a book, which there is of course. but briefly, there are two patrons who are held in high respect by the community, and the community contributes bringing different items of food for the celebrations. there are parades with dances with different personalities, the most interesting of which, to me, are the two Ajas and two Wikis. Saraguro was catholicized when the Spaniards came, so of course one would try to relate these characters to the Christmas celebration, but no where else in the world, that it is known, are there characters like these. which means they are either of mix of some Andean/Saraguro simbolism with the Catholic stories or they are Andean images that were incorporated into the celebration. apparently, in times past, there even used to be the figure of a priest who was ritualisticaly decapitated; but that ended on the order of one of the priests. go figure. anyway, the celebration centers around the "image" which is a figure of the Christ child, who is guarded and made vigils over for these few weeks. sources on/from the Saraguros talk about how celebrations incorporate several things - they are a break from daily hard work, they are key to maintaining social relations, they are one of the ways the community expresses reciprocity, and their symbolic meanings are a way for the community to literally express their religiosity. in my obversation of the celebration of Kapac Raymi yesterday in one of the communities, this was all very clear to see. Kapac Raymi is different from Christmas, it is celebrated on the winter solistice but i´m not sure yet of all it´s meaning. Kapac means leader and Raymi means festival. the celebration is a time to laugh, to establish, reaffirm, and create values, to express reciprocity by bringing "pinzhi" which are contributions to the food, etc.

on a personal and unrelated note, today i had my own mental celebration. i suffer from a disease called perfectionism; one of the effects of this is that i never acknowledge work that i´ve accomplished and instead i tell myself i haven´t accomplished anything in accordance to the goals that are in my head. being aware of this, i´m trying to celebrate accomplishments. today i went to meet a figure in the community whom i don´t know to consult him about several things, and i celebrated the simple fact that i approached the house correctly. this involved: first observing the dogs to see if they were dangerous (almost all houses in the communities have dogs for protection). upon seeing that they were not so friendly, i looked around for a stick, and armed, i approached, also giving the hissing sound that is given to get dogs away. then i gave the other whistle that is to notify people of your presence and yelled out "se puede?" which means can i enter? of course, even knowing these customs will not hide the fact that the person who came to greet me found a scared-looking gringa with a stick in each hand.
i celebrate this as something that i have learned little by little throughout my stays in Saraguro, and it something that i did not know before. so, if you are a perfectionist, celebrate something you have learned today.

until later

posted by leah v @ 7:57 AM