Fiesta de Maíz

Here in Suchitoto, and in many other towns in El Salvador, we celebrate the first corn harvest with a Fiesta de Maíz, which is also a celebration of the many farming villages and communities that are part of the Suchitoto municipality.  Kings and Queens of Maíz from the villages and women carrying baskets of fruit on their heads are part of a joyous procession that winds its way through the town to the church for the main Sunday Mass, after which we all pour into the parque central to stuff ourselves with elote, or fresh corn: tamales de elote, atole (hot corn drink), roasted corn-on-the-cob, elote loco (cooked corn-on-the-cob with decorations of, I think, ketchup and mayonnaise (among others), and riguas, my favorite, corn pancakes wrapped in banana leaves and grilled. 

A glorious party, and a festival that speaks to the central importance of corn - hard, white Salvadoran corn - in everyone's life here.   From the daily tortilla, which is the daily bread of every Salvadoran, to these festival foods it's clear that corn is the staff of life, as it was for the Mayan ancestors centuries ago.  ¡Que viva la Fiesta de Maíz!

Dia de Independencia

September 15, last Thursday, Suchitoto and towns all over Central America celebrated the Dia de la Independencia - Independence Day, celebrating the day in 1821 when Central America declared its freedom from Spain. It was, of course, cause for a good fiesta! The party began Wednesday evening with the traditional procession of the students at InSu, the Instituto de Suchitoto, equivalent to high school, complete with floats and wild costumes. My favorite float, created at the Centro Arte para la Paz, was a version of the famous San Salvador statue of Jesus standing atop the globe, and it had to progress very slowly and carefully so that the wires could be lifted with a long pronged stick as it passed every house. There was an angel (photo above) followed by a corps of dancing angels, a 19th century cart and horse, followed by students in Victorian dress, and the Carreta de la Chillona - Martha tells me that a kind of rattle lets you know when la Chillona is hunting down the living, and her carreta was appropriately decorated with skulls.

The next morning all the school kids in town and many from the colonias marched through the town. We hung out the door and a window as they passed, almost every school with some students in costumes and a marching band. And then there was La Ciguanaba, the old witch who dangles her sausage breasts in vain attempts to catch a lover. And there were these little girls dancing up the street.

I've lived in cities most of my life where parades are very organized rituals with professional floats, and I can't tell you how much fun it is to be part of the crowd hanging out on the edges of these two happy parades. ¡Viva la Independencia!

Founder's Day

For the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, today is Founders Day, the day we celebrate our founder, Margaret Anna Cusack, a woman of courage who experienced much conflict in her life, and longed for the gift and blessing of peace. Two special celebrations mark her day this year: our new website has been formally launched, and you can learn more about us and about Margaret Anna Cusack there. And in the western U.S., we celebrated Jubilees today, honoring the commitment, faithfulness and contributions of our eight Jubilarians.

Instead of joining in the celebration, I put Margaret Jane on the plane for New Jersey today - she'll be there for six weeks - and came home to a house that feels very big and very quiet with just me in it. Though, come to think of it, quiet is never long-lasting here, and even now I can hear the kids playing in the street and the buses rumbling past.

I can't be there in person with Cecilia Marie (80 years!), Rita Mary (75 years), Rose Marie and Mary (60 years), and Barbara, Jo-Anne, Margaret and Marilee (50 years), but I'm surely there in spirit with these great sisters of mine. May they each know themselves cherished today and every day. Happy Feast Day!

Happy Founder's Day

Today, January 7th, is our Founder's Day, the day our first Sisters professed vows as Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace in Nottingham Cathedral. As our Constitutions say:

Their faith and humility enabled them
to take great risks in serving their
sisters and brothers in need.

This evening Margaret Jane and I remembered those earliest sisters and all those, past, present and future, Sisters and Associates, who have and who will, in their turn, take great risks to serve and to be ministers of peace. What a joy to be part of such a company of women (and men too, among our Associates) committed

to promote peace
in family life, in the church, and in society.
We strive to respect the dignity of all persons,
to value the gifts of creation,
and to confront oppressive situations.
We respond to God's people in need
and promote social justice
as a way to peace.

I'm blessed, we're blessed in this great calling to be peacemakers and people of peace.