Dia de Cancion Criolla/ Halloween/ Dia de los Muertos

October 31st is the Dia de Cancion Criolla (Day of the Song) in Peru! This is a Peruvian holiday or festival that celebrates the traditional songs of Peru. Peru is an extremely diverse country resulting mainly from the various geographical areas. The people on the coast live very differently than those of the sierra (mountains) and the selva (jungle). Because of this, each region has different cultural norms from how they dress, what the eat, and the type of songs they enjoy. This day is to celebrate the diversity of the culture through song!

We had a celebration in the Training Center where each Spanish class presented and sang a song from Peru. We also got to dress up in traditional clothing (and hats!). After we all sang our individual songs, we sang "Este es mi tierra" all together. It's a very popular one that is super fun to sing: it was stuck in my head all weekend! The celebration ended with us all dancing impromptu for about 15 to 20 minutes as the teachers played back the Peruvian songs! It was a great time, I really enjoyed the music!

Although Lima doesn't celebrate Halloween as much as we do in the US, they do celebrate it to some extent! Many restaurants were decorated and on Friday we saw lots of children walking around in costumes. They trick or treat in the bigger pueblos. On our way home from the center, my friend Graham bought a bag of candy and was handing it out on the streets. It was very entertaining to see the people's reaction to a white man with a long beard handing candy to their kids on the side of the street! In the nighttime, the volunteers and I dressed up in our desfrazes (costumes) and went out dancing! It was nice to be able to celebrate a US tradition!

November 1st is also Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)! Many people in Peru spend the day at the cemeteries remembering their past loved ones. My host family didn't do that but they did light a candle next to a picture of an abuela who had passed. They also put fruit and pastries next to the candle. They told me it was a way to celebrate her. Overall, it was a fun weekend full of celebration!

My Spanish class before we sang our song, "Me llamo Peru"!