Celebrating festivals in foreign countries is always particularly interesting, what is different here than at home, in terms of actions, food and traditions. As you know, the evening before All Saints’ Day is Halloween, which in Peru coincides with the celebration of Creole music. I spent this Halloween evening in the Plaza de Armas (as all the main squares in all Peruvian cities are called). The picture of me looking at the Plaza de Armas from Cologne is very funny.
The festival was more for children, they were all dressed up, the princess motif was also very common here. The children carried a small plastic container shaped like a pumpkin and sweets were collected in it, similar to ours, but probably not in the same quantities. Here and there, adults stood and handed out sweets from a bag and the children rushed over to get their hands on some.
We adults just walked around the square and chatted. On the forecourt of the cathedral there was a “side program” with spoken word and canned music. From time to time, groups of children danced to this, Creole music alternated with Michael Jackson … We went for a little walk around the square … That’s something I’ve done here a lot now: “walking around the block”. On Halloween in the square “dry”, because serving alcohol in public spaces is prohibited. And in fact there would be nothing. If you think about it in comparison to Cologne ….
I gave the people portrayed yesterday a postcard from my “Shop Tables” series as a gift, and of course I was delighted to see the special place this card was given the next day!
On All Saints’ Day, roast suckling pig is sold in the mornings at numerous stalls along the street. There are also special yeast cakes and dry cookies for this holiday. I tested these and gave them away afterwards, and they were very popular.
By the way, for anyone interested in photography: the photo of the two women selling meat was taken at 9:00 in the morning. This photo shows wonderfully how bright the sun is at this time of day, the contrast between light and dark is enormous.
At lunchtime I met a friend of a friend, Yuri, who invited me to eat with his family. The only reason there was no roast suckling pig was because another family member is expected at the end of the week and the piglet will be eaten with him. This gathering was wonderful, seeing a family home from the inside and experiencing how a Peruvian family celebrates a holiday was great, not very different from what we do. In addition to the family of 4, all the parents also came along, we ate at a large table, quinoa soup, grilled chicken with salad and baked banana for dessert, all wonderful! It was another special day, very different from those before.
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