Christmas and New Years

Christmas in Brazil is certainly an entirely different experience!  The most prominent difference is clearly the weather.  At this point of the year the weather ranges from 104-112 degrees, but in addition there is the heat index.  Mother Nature gave us a nice Christmas present, the hottest day in Rio De Janeiro since 1915!  That actually occurred the day after Christmas, so she was a little late! 

Additionally the Christmas spirit that is abundant in the States is missing here.  Sure the stores have a few red and green decorations, but that’s about where it ends.  The only day I ever heard Christmas music was on Christmas Eve when my host mother pulled up a playlist while she was cooking.  So to make up for the lack, my friend Johanna (from Austria) and I decided to sing Silent Night while swimming in the beach, her in German, and I in English.  Ironically as we finished “all is calm” a huge wave came and knocked us off our feet. 

My host family spends Christmas Eve at the house of my host aunt’s parents in Barra, another region of Rio.  We arrived around 10 o´clock in the evening, everyone all cleaned up.  People socialized and ate until midnight.  A typical Christmas food is bacalhau, and my host mother is in charge of making it every year because in years past multiple people made it but only hers was eaten.  Other than that the food is rather typical; ham, turkey, other types of meat, rice, and farrofa.  But for once we didn’t eat beans! 

At midnight Santa arrived bringing presents for everyone.  I felt bad for the guy.  While it had cooled down enough to feel reasonably comfortable in shorts, being in a full on Santa suit would be ridiculous!   After all the presents were passed out, family members handed out presents as well.  Then everyone got together in a circle and played a game with little presents that everyone had brought.  The rules are simple:  you can either pick a present from the pile or steal one that someone has already picked.  However a single present can only be stolen twice, afterwards it remains in the third hand.  I ended up with some fruity smelling shampoo and conditioner.  Hey, one less thing to buy here!

About 4 o´clock in the morning we arrived home to exchange presents within the family.  My host family really seemed to enjoy the tie-dye kit I gave them, though we haven’t gotten around to making the shirts yet.  It was strange to go to sleep at 5 in the morning and sleep until about noon.  Christmas day was rather normal, nothing to special until the evening.  It was awfully hot, so we went to the beach to cool down!  

Host grandfather, sister, brother, and cousin

Santa arrived with presents for everyone!  The poor guy suffered in the heat!

Sunset in Recreio

Christmas Dinner

New Years Eve is a bigger event than Christmas from what I’ve observed. I was lucky enough to be able to attend one of the biggest celebrations in the world, the music shows/ fireworks on Copacabana beach.  Finding a parking spot is quite a chore with 2,300,000 people in attendance.  There’s not much room to sit, but standing for two hours is worth it once you see the fireworks show.  It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life. 

There are many traditions in Brasil to bring luck for the following year.  Many have to do with the colors you wear.  Everyone wears white as their main pieces.  However the color of your underwear is up to you, depending on what you wish for in the year to come.

Red=passion

Black=independence and decision

Orange=creativity and boldness

Pink=love

Green=hope

Blue=tranquility

Gold=emotions

Yellow=money and prosperity

Purple=intuition

Many people put flowers in the ocean as a gift to God.  Others jump seven consecutive waves and make a wish.  My host sister Annabella and I did this.  Making our way to the water was difficult because the beach was so packed with people, the majority of them drunk.  Sometimes they’ll try to grab your hand and hold on, but you just have to slap it away and say some not so nice words and they’ll let go. 

There are many families that arrive early in the day to set up tents on the beach, and some even tape off a nice quad, though this is illegal. We sat our things down next to one of these areas, and they proved to be an interesting bunch to say the least.  The one man, who was obviously hammered, seemed to think he was the king of the beach.  He stood by the tape they had put up and told the people trying to get through that they wouldn’t be going this way.  Apparently it was also to difficult to go to the bathroom, which in all honesty is a hassle because of the numbers at the beach, but in my opinion that shouldn’t give you a reason to pee in the sand.

 

Everyone gets very excited at midnight, like everywhere, and sprays champagne, hugs, kisses, the lot.  Exactly at midnight the fireworks show begins, semi-choreographed to music.   It’s truly a beautiful event. 

I’m not sure that I would want to spend my New Years at Copacabana every year, simply because of the number of people and the abundance of trash, but I’m so grateful to say that I experienced one of the biggest New Years parties in the world!  

A portion of the crowd at Copacabana.  An estimated 2,300,000 people were in attendence!

15 minute fireworks show!

One of the best parts of this holiday season was seeing and talking to my whole family back home!  It’s been a long time, and the holiday season is just never the same without your family!  At the same time though, it’s one of the best times to learn about another country’s culture!

The first time I saw my whole family together for almost 6 months!

Merry Christmas

And

Happy New Year