Blue and White

September has been a month long dedicated to celebrating Independence Day (the 15^th). The preparations for this day often begin up to 4 months ahead of time as the band begins to practice for the parade, the teachers prepare the students to put on different shows, and the school gets ready to host the entire community. To be perfectly honest my work in the school this month has been diminished to nothing but acting as number one cheerleader for everyone else’s preparations. But I think that is justified as this is not my area of expertise. This is their holiday, their traditions, and their celebration. My job is to be there, enjoy it, and support them. I did do a little decorating here and there ;)

I think this experience is best described in photographs, so here you go:

Parade!

Band playing! Benjamin up front from my youth group ;)

5th grade punto artistico!

7th grade punto artistico!

 After the presentations in the school, the eight grade hosted a Carrera de Cintas, which is a belt race. Basically there is a large rope tied between two trees and there are small belt loops attached to the rope handing down. The object is to capture the belt by putting a peg, pen, or stick through the loop of the belt. Each time you capture a belt a small flag is placed on your back, so that in the end the person with the most flags wins. This was probably my favorite part of the day. I had never seen a Carrera de Cintas before and it really made me want to learn to ride a horse and participate in the next one! The kid below in the blue shirt actually won the race and offered to teach me, so I should probably learn from him, considering he is the best!

We also celebrated the 15th of September during Dia de Comercio. We played the national anthem at 8 a.m., filled the day with Salvadoran music, asked everyone to dress in blue and white (see below), and raffled a live hen (my idea of a funny joke). 

Linda (raffled hen) and I

Equipo all dressed up in blue and white!!

 The market day was a huge success on the 15th! Everyone got a kick out of raffling a hen and I think everyone enjoyed being together on the 15th in a party like setting (especially when we woke them up at 5 am with fireworks.) Even better yet, the team and I celebrated afterwards with a large lunch that we cooked together and a cake with the Salvadoran flag on it. It was the best way I can think of to celebrate Independence Day. Feliz dia de Independencia El Sal!!!