Feliz Navidad: Christmas in Medellin

Decorations at Santa Fe

Its here, Christmas is here! More important, I am here, amidst all this Christmas! Even when I stand in my balcony here in Medellin, and just run my eyes around the landscape, with red bricked buildings and the mountains in the backdrop, I see Christmas trees of various sizes, lights of various designs and I know the kitchens are preparing for the various yummy dishes. Not that Medellin is very sleepy but I really got to know about it on the first day of December, when suddenly the sky lit up with hundreds of crackers. The noise was deafening too. Colombians were celebrating the start of the month of ‘Navidad’ which is Christmas in Spanish.

Since then Christmas is the new virus in town. People are delirious with sheer good cheer. On the evening 

of 7^th of December, the whole city started blazing with lights and candles. Balconies and windows were either lined with candles or adorned with artificial lights. Every door in Medellin now has a stocking, or a wreath or a big ribbon. Malls are resplendent, competing with each other for public attention. Santa Fe has giant snowflakes, igloos, a skating rink and a very realistic nativity scene. Oviedo has a field of giant teddy bears where kids can go berserk hugging and jumping on them. They also had Santa’s toy factory spewing gifts.

We visited the Rio and were in for a feast of lights. There were cars, ships, air balloons, clocks, bears, castles and much much more, all made of lights. There colourful fountains too and the locals had no problem getting drenched in them. There was a giant sized fair going on too. There was food. Rows and rows of food stalls selling the local barbecued corn, hot dogs, arepas, empanadas, choritzos, you name it. There was music. There was a group on violins, a group on guitars, a group breaking their bodies up elegantly to Reggae, a group on flutes. And there were toys. There were strange toys that left off rainbow lights, balloons morphed into swords and Pink Panthers, cuddly soft toys, disco hair bands. My son was agog.

I have been asking people around what they’ll be doing for Christmas and I have been told that like everywhere else in the world, Christmas here is all about bringing the family together. Wherever a person works or studies you can be sure that person is heading home this week. Most families here will be celebrating the nine days that follow up to Christmas feasting in their relatives’ homes. They decorate Christmas trees, keep stockings for Papa Noel (Santa Clause here) and buy gifts for the entire family.

They also prepare special food. One of them is a maize custard called ‘Natella.’ Another one is fried cheese balls called ‘Buenelos.’ Another one I loved was long fingers of baked flour filled with Guava jam called 'Dedito.' Yum!!

Feliz Navidad

To all girls and boys

Hope Papa Noel comes

With his sack full of toys!