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"... And world peace"
In Guatemala, beauty pageants -- for lack of a better phrase (as far as I know, they are not scholarship programs) -- are a common form of entertainment. They are organized for almost every town fair and in each town for the Guatemalan Independence Day. In my town, they always made an effort to incorporate both the indigenous and ladino cultures into the pageants. For example, the girls would be judged on a speech given in the native Mayan language, as well as on a speech given in Spanish. They would model traditional indigenous wear, as well as modern sports wear (e.g. a tennis or gymnastics uniform). The clip below is of a girl in one of the villages where I worked, wearing Jacal’s customary traje, while the emcee explains her outfit, that of her escort and talks about local traditions.
Pushing the arts
I have many, many complaints about the Guatemalan primary education system, but there is one area in which I believe they excel, and that is in the promotion of the arts. Every year, there are district-wide competitions for singing and dancing, arts and crafts, drawing, poetic recitation and more. And while it made for more days of cancelled classes, I was always blown away by the importance placed on cultivating the arts. This next video shows another one of my favorites (shhh!) competing in the first round of the first competition I attended. It’s a little tough to hear him over the all the students talking, but it gets better toward the middle.
I have many, many complaints about the Guatemalan primary education system, but there is one area in which I believe they excel, and that is in the promotion of the arts. Every year, there are district-wide competitions for singing and dancing, arts and crafts, drawing, poetic recitation and more. And while it made for more days of cancelled classes, I was always blown away by the importance placed on cultivating the arts. This next video shows another one of my favorites (shhh!) competing in the first round of the first competition I attended. It’s a little tough to hear him over the all the students talking, but it gets better toward the middle.
Feliz Navidad
Finally, we have a video of a posada in which I walked during my first Christmas season in Guatemala. Large groups of mostly women and children walk the streets singing Christmas carols and carrying small floats of the Holy Family during the nine days before Christmas to re-enact Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem. The float ends up at a different house each night, where the whole group is treated to ponche (a delicious fruit cider) and something to eat.
Up next: just some random videos of me hanging out with friends.
Peace out,
Kristina
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