auria “Hussein” cortes

As you all know, the setting of Mija is in Puerto Rico. My culture is full of customs and traditions. Below are a list of customs and traditions from different parts of the country.

• I’ll start with a tradition in many Puerto Rican households. Many of us have a machete next to the backdoor in case an intruder comes into the house. Yes, I know. The intruder can break in and get hold of the machete before we can get to it. Hey, traditions aren’t supposed to make sense. Right? The picture above is the machete that is near my door. It belonged to my parents and it’s the machete I grew up with.

• Guadalupe Day: Guadalupe (pronounced gwahth ah LOO pay or GWAHD uhl OOP) Day commemorates the day that the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to Juan Diego, a Mexican Indian. According to legend, on Dec. 9, 1531, Juan was hurrying over Tepeyac Hill, in what is now Mexico City, when a vision appeared to him. A lady told him to ask the bishop to build a shrine where she stood. But the bishop did not believe Juan until the vision appeared again, on December 12, and produced a sign. The lady later appeared to Juan’s uncle and called herself Holy Mary of Guadalupe. Our Lady of Guadalupe (often called the Virgin of Guadalupe) became the patron saint of Mexico. (Source)  

• On November the 1 st and 2 nd the Dia de los Difuntos (Day of the Dead) is commemorated. Every family in Ecuador goes to the cemeteries to leave flowers and visit the family members who have died. (Source) 
• One Costa Rica wedding tradition is for the bride to wear a long, black silk dress as her wedding gown. In other wedding traditions, this may seem inappropriate seeing that wearing a black dress typically signify death and mourning. But in most traditional Costa Rican wedding, the bride wears a black gown, in striking contrast to the immaculately white wedding gowns commonly worn by modern brides today. It is customary also for the groom to wear a shirt that is painstakingly hand-embroidered by his future wife. This will mean that the bride already shows her devotion and concern for her future husband, even before the marriage ceremony has taken place. (Source)  

• Flying Bells: Children don’t look for eggs left by an Easter Bunny… rather, the French believe that the Flying Bells leave on the Thursday before Good Friday, taking with them all the grief and misery of mourners of Christ’s crucifixion, reaching Rome to see the Pope and then come back on Easter Sunday morning bearing chocolate easter eggs, which are hidden around houses and gardens for children to find. (Source)

• April 2nd in Argentina — Dia de las Malvinas or Malvinas Day.  This commemorates the day in 1982 that the Argentine military invaded the Falkland Islands with the commitment of reclaiming them from the British.   Both Great Britian and Argentina still claim jurisdiction over the Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as Islas Malvinas. (Source)

• Sati was a Hindu funeral custom, now very rare and a serious criminal act in India, in which the dead man’s widow would throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre in order to commit suicide. The act of sati was supposed to take place voluntarily, and from the existing accounts, most of them were indeed voluntary. The act may have been expected of widows in some communities. The extent to which any social pressures or expectations should be considered as compulsion has been the matter of much debate in modern times. It is frequently stated that a widow could expect little of life after her husband’s death, especially if she was childless. However, there were also instances where the wish of the widow to commit sati was not welcomed by others, and where efforts were made to prevent the death. (Source)
• domovoi (Russian Spirit). A well-wishing spirit of the house who helped with domestic chores. Domovoi played tricks on people only when the owners were lazy or negligent, and lived in harmony with things from the church. Appearance: An old peasant with a long gray beard; also appeared as a cat or a dog. Tricks: Stole neighbor’s oats; if unhappy, was known to mess up the yard, tangle needlework, spread manure on the door, or, in extreme cases of anger, suffocate the victim. (Source)
•  Andrew’s Day (Andrzejki): This a special night for young Polish girls who want to find a husband. On this night and the next day, fortunes are told and the results are not taken lightly. Here is the most popular way that are fortunes are told: The most popular way is by melting wax and pouring it into a bowl of cold water. Wax is then picked up from the water, raised to the light, and the girls try to see the similarities of it to real objects. Depending on the shapes, fortunes are told for the following year. If nothing meaningful comes up, there is always a chance that a girl will dream of something important dealing with her future, that night - but only if she could remember it. (Source)

• Gullah burial customs begin with a drum beat to inform people that someone in town has died. Mirrors are turned to the wall so the corpse cannot be reflected. The funeral party takes the body to the cemetery, but waits at the gate to ask permission of the ancestors to enter. Participants dance around the grave, singing and praying, then smash bottles and dishes over the site to “break the chain” so that no one else in the same family will soon die. Then, the funeral group returns to town and cooks a large meal, leaving a portion on the veranda for the departed soul. (Source)

I’m short a few tradtions. Provide a tradition of your own in the comments section and help me complete the list.