Misa con todos los “bells y smells”

Sunday, Jan 30, 2011

We were up early this morning to attend 6:30am Mass at the nearby Basilica. I actually expected it to be more dramatic, but it was pretty much your basic high mass, with all the bells and smells as Father DeBruycker would say. The readings were from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and The Beatitudes – I caught that much. I tried hard to understand what the priest was saying in his homily and managed to catch a few phrases. I heard something about San Pablo trying to convince the Corinthians that they were all hermanos (brothers) and should be sharing equally in el espirito sancto and everything else. And I caught the reference to Matteo cinco (Mt 5) that Jesus was the maestro of the maestros… teacher of the teachers. But then he went on and on and on and eventually I just tuned out. The church had been cool to start, but about halfway through Mass, it seemed like it got colder and colder and I could only think about trying to stay warm.

I did notice, as we sat there, several women with their hair fixed in what must be a very traditional Maya fashion. They take a length of brightly colored satin ribbon, probably 4 feet long and braid it through their hair so that they have two braids, threaded through with color, hanging down their back. Depending on the length of the braid, they may have enough ribbon left to create large dramatic bows at the ends of each braid. Sometimes they wrap the braids around their head (like the Swedes do) and secure them in place with the excess length of ribbon. It creates a lovely frame around their face and is quite beautiful. I wonder if that is a hairstyle for girls and young women, because I haven’t seen the older women wearing their hair like that.

We were back home by 8:00 and back in bed by 8:03. I really slept hard. Jeff said he heard Violeta and her parents up and about, but I heard nothing until 10:30 when the Pentecostals next door cranked up the music. I had to say a little prayer… “Thank you Senor that the Pentecostals don’t get rolling until 10:30.” The music is literally blaring over the rooftops – I think they must have speakers up there to be sure any lost soul can find his or her way to Jesus. It’s heavy on the accordion… good old oompahpah stuff. A person could definitely dance to it. They seem to have a good time over there. Jeff headed out the door with his mandolin to sit on the corner and try to play along. That was quite some time ago and I’m beginning to wonder if he succumbed to the altar call and has converted. It’s tough to argue with a 10:30am start time.