A Joyful Noise

Nicaragua sounds like a war zone.  Bang bang bang pop pop pop POW!  Fireworks are going off all day and night...it's December, and we are celebrating! 

It all officially starts with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, called Purísima, this Saturday, and it's the biggest holiday in the country.  Families show their gratitude for miracles that the Virgin Mary has granted them by setting up altars to the Virgin in front of their houses. These altars always have an image of the Virgin Mary, and usually have white baby’s breath flowers arranged with candles, tinsel, lights, and the whole altar is framed in palm fronds.
 

On Saturday the Griteria starts -- literally called "The Shouting." At 6 PM on the dot, homemade mortar launchers are lit and fireworks pierce the air at once, all over the country. Neighbors come to the altars, sing traditional songs to the Virgin, and then are given gifts – it's like Trick-or-Treating with Christmas Carols.  People go from altar to altar "shouting," filling sacks with their bounty: refresco-filled bags, fresh nacatamales and fruit, sugar cane, soap, matches, tupperware and bowls.
 
This year, Managua has been entirely transformed: government ministries and offices have sponsored giant altars lining the main boulevard downtown, and when lit up (together with our new iconic yellow trees) make a spectacular sight. The Managua airport's altar has a beautiful mosaic of Mary in the center, the national Port company's has an actual boat in it, and the altar for the government energy company reads "ENATREL with Mary, joyfully extending Nicaragua's electrical grid!"
 
Some people question why a country as poor as Nicaragua would spend so much time, money and electricity on a religious celebration. In the book Poor Economics, authors say that Third World countries spend more on festivals and celebrations than First World countries, and the reason once again it boils down to something I've mentioned before: poverty is really boring.
 
So imagine! Now, for the price of a bus ticket, Managuans can take their families out to see this spectacle. If you were down there tonight, you would find crowds of very different Nicaraguans enjoying the show, their faces utterly lit up with joy as they pose for pictures with their favorite altars. This festival allows people to forget for a little while the drudgery of the every day, to lose themselves in a little beauty and joy.
 
And it's stimulating the economy -- an entire boulevard full of street vendors is grateful to be doing a booming business all the way through January.
 
This Saturday, as groups of families weave through the streets carrying sacks, stopping at each altar to shout “¿Quién causa tanta alegría? ¡La concepción de María!” “Who causes so much joy? The conception of Mary!” You can be sure that there will indeed be a lot of (very loud) joy. ¡Que viva María! ¡Que viva!  -- Becca