People walk at the National Park illuminated for Christmas in Bogotá on December 17, 2015. If you had told 10-year-old me that I’d miss novenas, I would have rolled my eyes. And, living away from my family doesn’t make it any easier as it’s really hard to do a novena all by yourself. for Christmas, it’s really hard to make time in our already-busy days to just pray for an hour. Since there isn’t any build up here in the U.S. It’s our tradition, nuestra tradición, that makes you deserve whatever el Niño brings you. When I was a kid, they used to feel like a task that I needed to check off in order to make it to the 24th. And finally, we’d stay way dancing, singing, and eating buñuelos until our parents told us it was bedtime. Then, they would ALWAYS give us kids a tiny little gift or special treat that adults would not get (I curse the day I turned 8 and was too old to get those special treats).
For starters, we’d get to see the other kids from the building and sing and laugh through the prayer together. To me, this used to be the only way I could get through this hour-long prayer without complaining. These are the two songs that no matter what, I will sing as if my voice sounded like Shakira. We’d all bring our maracas and other instruments to sing (rather off-key) some of the villancicos, my favorites being Tutaina and Campana Sobre Campana. We lived in an apartment complex in Ciudad Salitre, Bogotá, for most of my childhood and every year they would host a party for all the families and kids to do the novenas together. In the past years I’ve seen versions that changed it to “ padre adoptivo”, perhaps saving a few kids a sternful look from their mother (sorry, ma). I also remember laughing uncontrollably during the Oración a San José saying “ padre putativo” which could’ve just been my sister and I being silly over its similar sound to that curse word I would never dare to utter.
I am 21 years old and I haven’t needed to look at the lyrics when singing since I was 10. If you grew up in Colombia or have Colombian parents who did the Novena with you every year, you’ll understand when I say that those verses of the Oración al Niño Jesús will forever be ingrained in my memory. This was when I knew we were getting close to the finish line but the real tests (yes, tests) begin December 16th: the first day of the Novena de Aguinaldos.
Dia de las velitas full#
I remember walking to school the next morning and seeing the streets full of candle wax leftover from the candles that were lit. On every corner, you can spot someone selling a set of candles which you would later see up on peoples’ porches, windowsills, and sidewalks basically anywhere with a flat surface will hold the candles. The unofficial official start of the holiday season is December 7th, the Día de las Velitas, a national holiday in Colombia. The sanctuary of the Basilica of the Fallen Lord of Montserrate is seen illuminated for Christmas in Bogota on December 8, 2015. This is still not the beginning of the Christmas season, this is just the built up. I don’t think I have ever seen a single house or street in Bogotá not decorated for Christmas (and if you are that person who doesn’t, COME ON, get in the spirit). It’s like everybody stayed up the night before tirelessly decorating because they appear out of full air. December 1st, decorations go up EVERYWHERE.
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