The Fiesta de la Patrona

My host family invited me to come to their family party to celebrate the patron saint of Costa Rica, the Virgin of Los Angeles, also called La Negrita. Here´s some other blog entries if you want to learn more about this holiday:
La Día de la Patrona
La Romeria

We drove over to my host mother´s daughter´s house. They have a large tiled patio with beautiful peach colored walls and the standard iron gates everyone else has. There were chairs set up facing a table with a white tablecloth, flowers and a shrine to the virgin that included candles and an a replica image of the virgin that is in the basilica in Cartago. When I got there, two nuns had arrived and they were setting everything up for the service.

When most everyone arrived, we all stood up for prayer. After prayer the nuns would read about the miracles in the life of the virgin Mary and Jesus as a child, then different people would say what I think was the rosary,(I was raised protestant, so I was pretty lost during the whole thing), then other people would say responses, and then were songs that everyone knew, but me. But it was nice, and it was pretty amazing to see how much everyone had committed to memory.

There are people that say Catholicism is a lazy religion, but I don´t agree. Everyone knew these long sayings and what to repeat when and what to sing when. It was impressive. Finally the service ended and the part of the party started that I could participate in more fully: the eating.

Now, I consider myself a pretty progressive guy, but in Costa Rica, the men stand around and the women serve everybody. My host mother gets a little annoyed if I try to do more than scrape my dishes, so I am ready to do my part for cultural sensitivity and let women bring me food. Its tough, but no one said learning another language and culture would be easy.

The meal started with a really good glass of Horchata, which is a sweet rice drink made with spices. Its very refreshing on a hot day. Then they brought out Elotes, which is corn on the cob. Its actually not bad with some lime and mayonnaise, but it´s not great. Its very different from corn in the US though.

I´m not impressed with Elotes in Mexico or Costa Rica. I know the smaller kernels are more accurate of what maize was when the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, but after you have tasted a big, ultra sweet, butter soaked, genetically modified piece of sweet corn, you just aren´t satisfied with anything else.

Then they brought a plate full of rice and barbequed chicken and roast beef and a cold pasta salad. The salad was my favorite part. Ticos do some very good cold salads. Then we had flan for dessert.

Everyone was very friendly, and had a great time. It was a wonderful evening.

Juanito

Next Costa Rican Entry: Bull Fights-Costa Rican Style