Missing Pieces

Did you know that the Christmas season in Puerto Rico lasts for almost three months? From late November through early February, Puerto Ricans have a very busy holiday schedule. Due to our political ties with the United States, we celebrate both countries’ holiday customs. Compared with Puerto Rico, the Christmas break in the United States is as short as a movie preview; you can’t wait to see the rest of it. Back home, we celebrate Christmas in a lot of different ways that makes our season longer. In contrast, Chicago’s Christmas season lacks lots of spontaneous and fun elements that I truly enjoyed in Puerto Rico.

One particular way to celebrate Christmas in Puerto Rico is giving asaltos navideños or Christmas attacks. That is our version of caroling. Right after Thanksgiving and all the way through December people get unexpected visits from their friends and relatives. A group selects a household and shows up on a random night with musical instruments. They play typical songs all night long and fix typical dishes like pasteles, arroz con gandules and coquito.

It is understood that every Puerto Rican house must be well stocked at all times. You never know when you are going to have a paranda. The group goes on looking for new houses to assault through the entire month of December. A standard American family would probably consider this Christmas custom as a rude or improper behavior. The families here have a busy agenda and you have to schedule in advance to have fun gathering.

Another classic Christmas custom we celebrate is the Three Kings Day on January sixth. While in the United States, everyone is back to work, in Puerto Rico, we are still doing more shopping. Kids make two separate gifts lists, one for Santa and another for the Three Kings. They put grass and water under their beds for the Three Kings’ camels. The Three Kings leave the presents under every child’s bed. We always joke about who comes first, Santa Claus or the Three Kings; just like we wonder about the chicken and the egg. I missed my Three Kings’ presents this past season. In Chicago, the conversation topic about the Christmas holidays and gifts was already way out of mode by January.

Our last Christmas holiday is Dia de la Candelaria or Candlemas celebrated on February 2nd. Meanwhile the Chicagoans are still hoping the Bears make it to the Super Bowl the following year. In Puerto Rico we have our Christmas trees up until February. On Candlemas Day, we take them down and burn them in the streets and sing and dance around the fire. That ritual represents good luck for the next year and the bad spirits are destroyed with the fire. In the United States, the practice of this particular act is prohibited by law. I did not even think about celebrating this custom here in Chicago. Instead, I bought an artificial Christmas tree that I can recycle for the years to come.

The asaltos navideños, the Three Kings, and the Candlemas are three elements that make the Puerto Rican Christmas season longer and unique. It was painful not to have friends and family around to practice my Christmas customs with this year. Christmas in Chicago was like having just a bite of my own birthday cake. I waited for more, but it was over too fast. The long life and loud energy of the Puerto Rican Christmas were my missing pieces.