Celebrations!

Our friends Alex, Karena and Mirtha live in San Jose. It is a small town in the valley of the Ameca River. Mirtha finished kindergarten in early July and Alex wanted us to attend her graduation. He told us that the graduation was at 4:30 so we should get to their house around 4:15 to go to the school. We arrived and preparations were still being made. Alex’s sister Sandra was fixing Mirtha’s hair and Karena was getting dressed. Alex’s mother was there, too.
We walked over to the kinder school, about 4 blocks away. Some of the kids and families were already there, but others were still arriving. Nobody seemed to be in any sort of hurry. About 5:30 or so the graduation started. There are 3 years of kinder here, sort of like pre-K and kindergarten. Mirtha was finishing the 3rd year of kinder and will go to another school next year. There was a flag ceremony where the outgoing class passed the flag on to the next younger group. In the younger classes each child got a certificate for completing the year. Each class performed a dance. Mirtha’s class was very cute, all the girls had on white dresses fit for princesses and the boys were wearing their school uniforms and ties. There was even a short speech by the man who was “padrino” of the class.
After the ceremony, Alex’s sister and mother headed back to Vallarta and we went to a neighbor’s house with Alex, Karena and Mirtha. Two other girls and a boy from her class and their families were also there. We sat outside and ate snacks and drank beer. Even though Alex was the only one of them who spoke much English, we felt very welcomed by the whole group.
Apparently there had been some type of mix-up with school fees and the kids didn’t get their certificates. The parents were complaining about the school officials and Harold decided to teach them some English to help out. He told them that in the US, when something like that happens you say “Thank you very little.” They all practiced saying that, and Harold told them an alternate expression was F%#* you very much. They all seemed to understand that. And Alex told them another good saying to know was “Shut up.” So if you are ever in San Jose, Nayarit and here people saying Thank you very little and Shut-Up, you know why!

A couple weeks later we were invited to a quinceañera. It is a party to celebrate the 15th birthday of a girl. The quinceañera girl is named Tania and she and her sister Michelle spend a lot of time with our friends Patricia and Joann. We have met their whole family and went to their house for Christmas.
The first part of the quinceañera was a Mass at the church in the plaza in Bucerias. We had never been to that church before. The Mass was open to anyone and there are many people who attend church regularly there.
After the Mass was the party. It was held at an outdoor salon in Bucerias. Probably several hundred people were there. There were soft drinks and beer, music and videos, a special dance by the girl of honor and her escorts, and later dinner. It was a fun party.
A quinceañera is lots and lots of work by the family. Invitations were sent out; the dress bought and then spiced up. Little souvenirs were assembled for every guest in the color chosen, in this case orange. On each table at the party were decorated salt shakers, napkin holders and dolls. All of these were made, painted and arranged by the family.
Obviously this is a very big event for the girl and her family! We really enjoyed being able to participate in it.