Monday, December 27, 2010

Cheerful Chuukese Christmas Charm

This Christmas was the first time in my life that I was not in the company of my loving family in the comfort of a cheery home exquisitely decorated for the winter festivities. In fact, every member of my immediate family has been together for every single Christmas throughout our lives. This year, I broke the streak. I didn’t spend any time lying docilely by the fireplace sipping hot chocolate while I watched “It’s a Wonderful Life”. I didn’t string my favorite ornaments on the brightly lit Christmas tree in the living room. I didn’t brave the crowds and go on a mad shopping rampage at the last moment to try to gather presents for all my loved ones. I didn’t eat prime rib or twice baked potatoes or any of the feasting delicacies that I have become accustomed to during the holiday season. I didn’t awake in the morning to find any presents from Santa Claus. I didn’t wear a Christmas sweater. (If I tried to wear a sweater, I would probably die from heat exhaustion.)
The lack of my beloved Christmas traditions and absence of family and friends definitely put a damper on the day; and for the first time I felt a little bit homesick. However, Chuukese Christmas still provided a wonderful day of fun and happiness. Some of the stores on Weno played Christmas carols in the days leading up to the big day and many of them were also decorated with fern leaf wreaths and sparkling lights. This provided a slice of the exciting consumerism that pervades the holiday season. This was also my first Christmas that had a strong religious significance. The birth of Christ isn’t exactly the central focus of my family’s Christmas at home, however things are a little more pious over here.
To get a taste of the American Christmas traditions, the volunteer community here in Chuuk gathered together for a holiday party on the 23rd.  In addition to Peace Corps volunteers, there are Jesuit Volunteers (JVI’s), Japanese volunteers and Australian volunteers. None of them live with host families like we do, and none of them integrate into the society to the level that we do; nonetheless they are also sacrificing a year or two away from home to educate the youngsters of Micronesia. The Jesuit volunteers have an apartment on the main island of Weno and invited us all over for a Christmas party. Only a couple of us Peace Corps volunteers could make it, but there was a substantial group of other various volunteers in attendance.
We built a gingerbread house. We ate candy canes. We listened to Christmas music.  They even had a Christmas tree. We decided to try our best to make a holiday feast. We got some instant mash potatoes, stuffing and a case of frozen chicken. We pooled our resources and pulled together a pretty decent meal to celebrate Christmas. We drank some wine and danced to Christmas carols throughout the night. It was really nice to celebrate with Americans and get to fulfill some of our Christmas desires.
I returned to Fefan on Christmas Eve and ate a normal meal of rice, taro and fish. Not exactly the usual spread that covers my dining room table back in the states. At about 9pm we gathered as a family and began to walk down to the main church (Mission), which is about 40 minutes away. We arrived in the neighboring town of Onongoch and came together with hundreds of other Fefanese. At 10pm we all started a giant procession up to the fabulous church building. We were lead by a series of 4 giant torches and the group sang Chuukese Christmas songs as we ambled towards the midnight mass. We came to the giant church on the hill that overlooks the beautiful ocean, and then funneled ourselves into the building. I actually sat outside because it was so crowded, but I rather enjoyed my view from the exterior. There was a radiant waning moon rising above the shimmering white bell towers of the Church that created a brilliant ambiance around the area. A special Christmas mass then ensued with an extra level of ostentatious rituals. Everyone kissed a plastic doll of baby Jesus on the forehead and listened attentively to the priest until well after midnight. Then early on the Christmas morning we gathered together again and began our long walk back home. I slunk into bed around 1am and dreamed of sugar plum fairies and candy cane castles.
The next morning I was awoken by shrieks of young voices. However, these weren’t cries of excitement at the gifts that Santa bestowed upon the small children in my house, but instead screams of random arguments that often transpire in the early hours of the morning between the little munchkins. We relaxed for a while and then took off on another walk to the Church for Christmas day mass. We were entertained again by a flurry of white clad priests performing holy tasks in honor of Jesus birthday party. It was very interesting to have a Christmas entirely focused on the birth of Christ. I mean, that really is the reason that we have Christmas. The Christmas season has come to symbolize so much more like love, family, happiness, presents, Santa Claus and a whole mess of doodads and whizzlenuts. I guess it was kind of nice to remember true purpose behind celebrating Christmas.
We very leisurely walked back to our village of Ununno and took a couple of hours to complete our journey. We stopped along the way to relax and take in the serene beauty that surrounded us. The pathway was crowded with churchgoers and we had many conversations with people along the way. We came back to our village and attended a meeting that was full of long-winded seemingly meaningless speeches that characterize all of the meetings here in Chuuk. After an hour or two of listening to formal discourses on the something about something, we ate a big meal and then everyone scattered back to their homes. My favorite part of the Christmas day was a present exchange that was organized by the church youth. All of the youngsters (including me) were assigned a partner and bought a little present for their Christmas buddy. We all came together and a couple people led a ceremony of handing out presents. To accept your present you were supposed to dance your way up to the stage as they played a little snipit of a song for you. Most people were lazy and just walked up to grab their gift. However, I knew that the little girl that was my partner particularly liked dancing. So when it was my turn I boogied my way up to the presents and then grabbed her hand and brought her up to dance with me. The crowd erupted in laughter and I had the feeling that it made her feel pretty special. I guess it was good that I performed this little gesture, because she got me a way better present than I got her, haha. There was supposedly a $5 limit so I just got her a Christmas ornament and some candy canes. She got me a brand new fancy Hawaiian shirt and a gigantic basket filled with fresh island vegetables.
I returned home and relaxed with the family for the rest of the night. I put on some Christmas music from my computer and the little kids danced in circles to the sound of jingling silver bells. I also gave out small presents to my family of flashlights, can openers and candy. It was a good ending to Christmas and I fell asleep a happy camper. I was very worried that I would be upset because of the lack of Christmas spirit and traditions that are so prevalent in America, however I happily accepted the Chuukese style of celebrating this wonderful holiday. Undoubtedly I would have rather spent my holiday in the presence of my family and friends back home, however part of my Peace Corps experience is to challenge my personal status quo and step outside my comfort zone.

Merry Christmas to everyone back home!!!!!!!

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