The Bands Have Arrived

An unexpected perk to buying real estate in Nicaragua is the omnipresent music. In Nicaragua music enhances everything and loud music REALLY enhances everything.

Purisma is the celebration of Mary in December. Each day the statue of the Virgin Mary to carried from the church to a different barrio accompanied by a marching band. Each evening Mary is carried back to church, accompanied by a marching band.

The week before Christmas a "rumored to be tipsy" marching band travels through the village at 5AM calling parishioners to a 6AM mass. After every funeral, friends and family make a slow procession through the village following a horse pulled wagon carrying the casket of their loved one, accompanied by.....you guessed it....a marching band.

A child's birthday party is not complete without a pinata and a marching band, which in this case is mostly a standing band.

The other day a followed the sounds of a marching band only to discover an entire marching band sitting in the front sala of a very small house. It was crazy loud on the street and I couldn't imagine the sound levels in the sweltering home.

I have been in San Juan del Sur on and off for just more than 2 years and I haven't lost the child-like excitement of hearing a marching band. I regularly hear the strains of a trumpet a few blocks away and follow the sound until I find the raison d'etre of the marching band.

The bands that arrived last night aren't really bands at all. They are 15 foot speakers which line the beach, pumping out pop music accompanied by a massive drum track that just might re-set a pacemaker. And in Nicaragua, if it ain't loud, it ain't good! I could hear the thumping until 4AM and I expect I will hear it every night until January 1st. I live 2 blocks back from the beach so it isn't very disturbing for me. Beach front denizens must be going insane or perhaps they are visiting their friends who bought real estate in the foothills overlooking San Juan del Sur.

For some cool pictures of some of the celebrations that take place in Nicaragua in December check out: http://www.vianica.com/go/specials/8-december-celebrations-nicaragua.html

New Years Eve in Nicaragua

With New Years Eve just around the corner, I thought I would write a little about the holiday and traditions as celebrated in Nicaragua. I am a Canadian ex-pat living in Nicaragua for the past 2 years, and I never cease to be charmed by the festivities that happen with every major national holiday.

El Ano Viejo (the past year) is a colourful and unique celebration in Nicaragua. Every household will put together a life-sized figure, made of old clothes, with socks for feet and hands, stuffed with dried grass or paper. All over town you will see these figures sitting in front of houses. At midnight on New Years Eve, every household will set their figure on fire in the middle of the street (or dirt road) in front of their house. Burning the figure represents all of the negative things you want to leave behind in order to start the new year fresh with happiness and hope.

Along with the newspaper or straw stuffing, sometimes the Nicaraguans will include some fire crackers - they do love their fire crackers. People will also write down or include a symbolic item of what they wish to be rid of before the new year. The figures are often seen with an empty rum bottle in hand.

New Years Eve in Nicaragua is a very fun (and loud) celebration ... for some other Central American New Years traditions check out this article I've found on this christmas holiday traditions blog.